Body, Soul & Spirit
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The Spirit of Man
Man
is a complex entity; a physical body composed of 15 major chemical elements.
Seventy-two percent of this body is oxygen. These necessary elements are found
in the soil in various compounds. Growing plants utilize these compounds, which
are assimilated into man’s body through diet. Some plants are eaten by animals,
which in turn end up in man’s diet.
Upon death, man’s body decomposes into
the basic elements and returns to the earth. “Dust thou art and to dust shalt thou return” Genesis
One of the most widely held teachings of
churchianity today is that within man’s body lives a soul. This soul is the
ethereal part of man that leaves the body at death and goes to heaven or to
hell, or (in the beliefs of Catholicism) to purgatory. The soul is thought to
be the “real you” inside the physical body. The soul is assumed to be an
immortal spirit that can never die. This runs counter to the plain teaching of
Scripture which clearly states, “The soul
that sinneth it shall die” Ezekiel 18:4; repeated
verse 20.
Satan, the Father of Lies
This
most widely held fallacy originated when Satan deceived Eve in the Garden of
Eden. Thus Satan is called the first liar in Scripture. Yahshua said he was a
liar and the father of lies, John 8:44. “Thou
shalt not surely die,” Satan told Eve, “For
Elohim does know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened
and ye shall be as Elohim knowing good and evil” Genesis 3:5. Then the
aging process began. Their doom was sealed for Yahweh had said previously: “…of every tree of the garden thou mayest
freely eat; but of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat
of it; for the in the day that thou eatest thereof. THOU SHALT SURELY DIE” Genesis
Had Adam and Eve not eaten the fruit,
they would have retained the ability to live forever. They would have had
everlasting human life by living in the Edenic paradise without aging. The
bodily processes would have gone on, such as eating, working, resting,
sleeping, tiring, but they could have enjoyed a happy,
abundant life in the garden as human beings without sickness and without
growing old. However, once they had eaten the prohibited fruit of the tree of
the knowledge of good and evil, the aging process began. Now they would begin
dying.
This first lie came down to us in the form
of the “immortal soul” doctrine not found in the Bible. The Bible nowhere says
that we have an immortal soul. Rather, it clearly teaches that we are mortal.
The word mortal comes from the Latin mors which means death, and Webster’s New World Dictionary
defines mortal as “that which must eventually die; of man as a being who must
eventually die; of this world; causing death; deadly; fatal.”
Man’s
dust-formed body was lifeless until animated by the breath of life (spirit). “And Yahweh Elohim formed man of the dust of
the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a
living soul” Genesis 2:7. The word “soul” means creature, being, and a
life. Some Bibles translate
this verse, “And man became a living
being.” See Moffatt, Goodspeed, Revised Standard versions. To say that man
is a soul is to say that he is a creature, a being, a life. When Yahweh blew
air (spirit) into Adam’s lungs, Adam became a breathing, living creature.
The existence of a living creature
demands a union of a dust-formed body and the breath of life. Before Adam
received the breath of life he was a dead soul, a nonliving creature. When air
was forced into his lungs, oxygen was carried by the blood to all parts of the
body and man became a LIVING soul. When man dies and the breath (spirit) goes
from him, he then becomes a DEAD soul, a dead creature. We are a soul; we are a
life, a creature, a being. We are not IMMORTAL. We can die. It is so appointed,
Hebrew 9:27.
The word soul is translated from Strong’s Hebrew Dictionary (5315) nephesh. Nephesh occurs 752 times in the Old Testament and is translated 44
different ways. In English the primary meaning of nephesh is “creature, person, man, life, and lives.” Strong’s Greek
is (5590) psuche. The Greek word psuche occurs 105 times in the New
Testament. It is variously translated “soul, life, lives, mind, you, us, heart,
and heartily.” Psuche in Greek and nephesh in Hebrew mean the same.
Examples are Romans 11:3, 1 Kings 19:10, Acts
Animals, Fish Have Souls
The
Bible’s use of nephesh includes
animals and fish. “And Elohim said, let
the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature (nephesh or soul) that hath life,” Genesis
Nevertheless, we do not possess
immortality, but seek it: “To them who by
patient continuance in well doing seek for glory and honour and immortality
eternal life” (Romans 2:7 AV). Man is promised immortality through the
Savior’s return and being in the first resurrection. (Request our mini-study “Is There More Than One Resurrection?”)
Soul Means Life
Nowhere
does the Bible say that only a man’s body dies. The Bible clearly declares that
the person himself died. Never does Scripture say that the body died and the
person himself (his soul) went somewhere else. When life departs from a person,
death ensues, and the body is
Not only does the word translated soul
mean life, but we find the Bible teaches that animals are also known as souls.
Other verses that show animals possess the same life (nephesh or psuche) as humans
include: Gen. 2:19;
Immortal Soul Unscriptural
Nowhere
in the Bible do we find the term “IMMORTAL SOUL” mentioned in those words.
Neither is soul ever referred to as “undying,” or “eternal,” or “ever-living.”
The soul is mortal. It can be killed. It can die. Note the following verses:
Lev.
Joshua
Psalm
Psalm
78:50 “Spared not their soul from death”
Psalm
89:48 “Deliver his soul from the hand
of the grave”
Jerem.
Ezekiel
18:4 “Soul that sinneth, it shall
die”
Ezekiel
Ezekiel
Rev.
16:3 “Every living soul died in the
sea”
Man is a body in which dwells the bread
of life. That life cannot exist without the body, and the body cannot exist
without the life principle. In the resurrection, it is the body that will be
raised up. The Bible does not teach that the soul will come back from heaven or
somewhere to get into the body. It is the body that is raised from the state of
the dead and changed to spirit in the first resurrection, Revelation 20:6.
Man is superlative among Yahweh’s
physical creation, being able to think, feel, and choose. In his complex
composition, man has social, moral, and religious values. Various drives,
goals, ambitions, and energies make up his character and personality. His
physical nature and his mental nature cannot exist separately. His mental
capacity is really a part of his physical nature.
Man’s mind is the functioning of his
brain. Newborn babies do not have a fully developed brain, nor is their mind
completely developed. Therefore, they are limited in knowledge and ability until
they mature and develop.
Spirit = Mind, Attitude
Through
the development of the brain we attain a mind which enables us to think and act
for ourselves instead of responding to stimuli only through instinct. A baby
cries when it is hungry, wet and scared. It is content when it is warm, dry and
has a full stomach. Most babies walk at about one year of age. They learn to
say one-word sentences like “up,” “drink,” “down,” “bye,” etc. about this age.
As the body matures, the child’s mind also develops. It is the parents’
responsibility to train the child to be a responsible adult, both physically
and mentally.
Paul wrote to the Thessalonians “And the very Elohim of peace sanctify you
wholly; and I pray Elohim your whole spirit
and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Master
Yahshua” 1Thess. 5:23. Paul reveals to us that man consists of soul (life),
body and SPIRIT. The word “spirit”
is from the Hebrew ruach and the Greek pneuma. The English word spirit comes from the Latin spirare,
meaning “to breathe.” All three words have the sense of “to breathe or to
blow.”
The underlying meaning of the word
translated spirit is invisible force. In man we view this as
being one’s attitude, disposition, dominant feeling or propensity. It is how we
perceive life and our surroundings. It is that invisible force that is capable
of producing visible effects. It is not uncommon for us to speak of someone’s
being in good “spirits,” meaning he has a positive attitude. We speak of
high-spirited horses, meaning frisky and active. It is still in vogue to speak
of the “spirit of
Our spirit is the driving force in our
life. Some people might be described as having a “bad spirit, meaning an attitude
of gloom and perversity or of defiance and negativism. A group of persons might
be described as getting into the “spirit of the occasion” or they might be
impelled by a “mob spirit.”
Genesis 26:34-35 reveals that “bitterness of spirit” of Isaac and
Rebekah over the marriage of Esau to the Hittite woman. (Mind is from the
Hebrew ruach also translated spirit). When Ahab could not obtain the
vineyard of Naboth, we read that his wife Jezebel was prompted to ask, “Why is thy spirit so sad that thou eatest no
bread?” 1 Kings 21:5.
A man can be so taken up with the spirit
of jealousy that he views his wife with deep-seated suspicion and could even
charge her with adultery, Numbers 5:14, 30. Thus the type of spirit, or mind,
is the basic force that moves and gives the thrust to one’s actions and speech.
It is our attitude, or outlook which is a factor in determining our actions.
Scripture further defines the Hebrew ruach and Greek pneuma as being mind, attitude, driving force, outlook,
disposition, posture and stand. Romans 11:8 speaks of the spirit of slumber; 1
Corinthians 4:21 of the spirit of meekness; 1 John 4:3 of the spirit of
anti-Messiah.
Spirit of EliYah
The
prophet EliYah represents one of the highest examples of driving force. He had
an ardent desire to serve Yahweh in spite of a world around him that served the
popular false mighty ones of his day. EliYah was unflinching in his fervor to
carry out Yahweh’s will in spite of the unpopular position he held. So
desirable was EliYah’s zeal that when he asked his disciple Elisha what he most
wanted, Elisha asked that a DOUBLE portion of EliYah’s spirit be given him, 2
Kings 2:9-11. Elisha wanted his mind, his spirit to be turned to heavenly
things, to obey Yahweh and serve Him.
This same earnest drive was given to John
the Baptist, Luke 1:17. John was to prepare the people to accept the coming
Messiah. He was a preacher of righteousness and his message was to turn the
attention and attitude of the people to the coming Messiah. His message had a
powerful effect upon his hearers. Yahshua stated that had the people accepted
John the Baptist and obeyed his message, John would have fulfilled the
prophecies of the coming of EliYah, Matthew 17:11-12. The people rejected that
message, and so the prophecy of the coming of an EliYah was postponed and is
for our time, Malachi 4:5-6. (Note! We are being given
the opportunity to be the “EliYah” to herald the return of Messiah!)
The Scripture tells us the Messiah must
remain in the heavens until both pure worship and the proper attitude
toward Yahweh are restored, Acts
Yahweh
explains that eventually He will give His people a new heart and spirit, “A new heart also will I give you, and a new Spirit
will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh,
and I will give you a heart of flesh. And I will put My spirit within you, and cause you to walk in My statues, and ye shall keep My
judgments, and do them.” Ezekiel 36:26-27 AV
The “new heart” is an attitude or mindset
of meekness, becoming teachable and willing to learn Yahweh’s way. It is an
attitude of changing one’s outlook from selfish goals to seeking the will of
our Heavenly Father. It is a heart of determination to be faithful and
courageous in full obedience to Yahweh.
The “new Spirit” promised is actually
Yahweh’s Spirit, His Holy Spirit. We are given the “earnest” or down payment of
that spirit when we are baptized into Yahshua’s saving name.
“Who hath also sealed us, and given the earnest of the Spirit in our
hearts” 2 Cor.
“Now he that hath wrought us for the self
same thing is Yahweh, who also hath given unto us the earnest of the Spirit”
2 Cor. 5:5 AV. (Request our several mini-studies on Baptism.)
When we are immersed into Yahshua’s
saving name, we are given a portion of the Holy Spirit through the laying on of
hands of the presbytery. With that portion of His Spirit, we are to allow it to
work in our lives to the point that we think and act just like Yahweh and
Yahshua.
The
more we allow the Holy Spirit to dominate our lives and focus our attention and
goals on the Kingdom, the more like Yahshua we will be. Having the same goals;
the same concern for others, we also take up His view of our maturity and
growth into the stature and fullness of Messiah. We are sealed as Yahweh’s
property. We belong to Him. He will guard and protect us while guiding into the
ways of His righteousness.
“In
whom you also trusted, after that you heard the word of truth, the evangel of
your salvation; in whom also after that you believed, you were sealed with that
Holy Spirit of promise.” Ephesians
The Fullness of the Spirit
We
will be given the fullness of His Spirit when Yahshua returns. Baptism into
Yahshua’s saving name is how we are sealed into His Name and the Father’s name,
Rev. 14:1. We become
Yahweh’s son and daughters, a
part of the family, “And grieve not the Holy
Spirit of Yahweh, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.” Ephesians
Even today Yahweh pleads with His people
as we read in Ezekiel
The process of conversion begins with the
individual. Each person must decide whether he will follow Yahweh’s way of
life. Every individual must seek Yahweh as did Abraham and the ancient
worthies.
When we have made that decision, we have
seen that Yahweh promises, “A new heart
also will I give you, and a new Spirit will I put within you; and I will take
away the stony heart out of your flesh and I will give you an heart of flesh,” Ezekiel 36:26. Yahweh tells us that He will help us overcome the world, the
devil, and our flesh, if we determine to follow Him. He promises to give us a
fresh new outlook on life now that the Holy Spirit is available. He will take
away our rebellious attitude and give us a warm, loving “spirit” (or attitude).
Continuing
His promise of the restoration ahead of us, Yahweh says, “…and I will put My Spirit within you, and
cause you to walk in My statutes, and you shall keep
My judgments and do them.” Ezekiel 36:27
Spirit of Obedience
If
we make the decision now to yield our life to Yahweh and do His will, He
promises He will give us an entirely new outlook on life. He will change our
goals and desires to conform to His Spiritual way of life. He will then place
His Holy Spirit within us and we will walk in His statutes and do His judgments
automatically, as this becomes our permanent custom or habit, and our character
is fashioned after that of Yahshua. Yahweh has big plans for those who are
called, chosen and are faithful, that love Him and keep His commandments, “But as it is written, eye hath not seen, nor
ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which Elohim
hath prepared for them that love him.” 1Corinthians 2:9
The more obedient we are in keeping His
commandments, the more we comprehend His word. His goals become our goals, and
our spirit, or mind is attuned to His Holy Spirit, "But Yahweh hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit; for the Spirit
searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of Yahweh.
For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in
him? Even so the things of Elohim knoweth no man, but the Spirit of Elohim. Now
we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is of
Elohim; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of Yahweh.
Which things also we speak, not in the words which man’s wisdom teacheth, but
which the Holy Spirit teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual.”
1Corinthians
Until we see things through Yahweh’s eyes,
perceive things from His vantage point, and comprehend His program for us, we
will have difficulty in grasping the fullness of the wonderful things He has
prepared for us. We are to rise above the world.
“But
the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of Yahweh; for they are
foolishness unto him; neither can he know them, because they are spiritually
discerned. But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is
judged of no man. For who hath known the mind of Yahweh, that he may instruct him?
But we have the mind of Messiah.” 1 Corinthians 2:14-16 AV
The closer we walk with Yahshua, the more
our spirit (mind) is guided by Yahweh’s Holy Spirit, His mind! We think like
Him, respond like He would, do as He would and become dominated by Him and His
ways.
We are promised blessings will accrue
when we are entirely in His will, living in complete obedience to His laws even
now in preparation for the restored earth. Man’s spirit must be changed and
transformed to that of Yahweh’s. He will help us have the determination to
change our proud, boastful, self-centered spirit to a Spirit of meekness
concerning His word.
Humbly following and doing those things
that are commanded in spite of the ridicule that the world may heap upon us, we
as a True Worshiper may find ourselves isolated because no one else seems to be
calling on His Name, keeping His days, striving to learn of Him. But in the end
the faithful will receive the adoption into the family of Yahweh. When Yahshua
appears, we shall be like Him for we shall see Him as He is, 1 John 3:2.
What about you? Are you willing to turn
over soul (life), spirit (mind, attitude), and body over to Yahweh and live for
Him? Join the growing number of Yahweh’s Assembly in Yahshua brethren seeking
our Heavenly Father’s mercy for a double portion of the spirit of EliYah to
help proclaim the ELIYAH message to the world—My MIGHTY
Yahweh continues to call out a people for
His name, especially those who are afar off, “Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in
the name of Yahshua Messiah for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the
gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and
to all that are afar off, even as many as Yahweh our Elohim shall call” Acts
2:38-39 AV
If you faithfully answer Yahweh’s call
now, you are promised to be in that first resurrection. You will then be made
immortal, a spirit being, no longer flesh and blood, but will have a body like
Yahshua who brought life and immortality to life! 1 Tim. 1:10
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