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BODY AND SOUL

The purpose of this little devotional is to increase our knowledge of ourselves in order to be more obedient to our Lord. Hopefully, you will see the value of having the right thinking about whom and what we are.

Something people don’t think about today is what it means to be human. The medical profession and science will tell you a human is a 2 legged mammal related to the apes. He is made of flesh, blood, and bone, and is able to reason abstractly.

The Bible states:

Ps. 139:14
I will give thanks to Thee, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Wonderful are Thy works, and my soul knows it very well.

Gen. 2:7
And Jehovah God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.

The world would have us believe that what we see, our bodies, is all that we are. We are so quick to trust what we are taught in our public schools and taught by worldly minds, no matter how great we may think they are, that we fail to see the truth. Short sightedness causes failure to live obedient and abundant lives. Remember, the prince of this world is an enemy with God, and if he is an enemy of God don’t you think he and everything of the world is your enemy too? He works in the sons of disobedience Eph. 2:2

Rom. 1:21-25
For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God, or give thanks; but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened. 22Professing to be wise, they became fools, 23 and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures 24 Therefore God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, that their bodies might be dishonored among them. 25 For they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.

The unregenerate are blind and they teach their foolish doctrines in our schools and universities.

Man is not just about the body, the body is the very least of what a man truly is. It is the brute part of man which all mammals have. We are much more; we are living souls, made in the image of God.

Now the first question you may ask is, where do our souls come from? DoesGod create each soul separately (which is the creationalist view)? Are there a certain number of souls already existing that God puts into each human born (which is the theory of preexistence)? If He does put the soul into each human individually, does that mean God puts a sinful soul into each body? Is the soul created by the union of the man and woman (which is the Traducian theory)? These are some interesting questions. There are many different ideas out there concerning the soul's origin. My idea doesn’t match the pastor’s belief, so it is something I’ll let you study on your own. If you like working on puzzles, it is a wonderful study to do in the Bible; look up references to soul, spirit, and man, and work through it yourself. Apart from the teaching/prayer meeting time, I would gladly discuss my views and why I hold them. I would not state them dogmatically, but only as a way to stir your thinking.

From my reading of scripture, I believe that the soul of each human has its origin with Adam, which follows the Traducian theory. You may ask why I believe that.

1. It was only Adam who God breathed life into and he became a living soul. Eve was taken from the rib of man, but God did not breathe her into a living soul. She was already a living soul through Adam.

2. The conception of our Lord was from the Holy Spirit, but the birth was carried out through a woman. The Lord could not come from the seed of man because then He would have been a sinful soul. Men are not more important than women, but it is through man that the soul of an individual is passed on.


Did you know that the universe is constantly expanding? When God spoke creation into existence, His word spoken continues unabated, because there isn’t anything to stop the word of God but God Himself. Just as he breathed life into Adam and made him a living soul, that power continues unabated, and until God decides to stop it, man will continue to be born until God decides it is enough.

Rom. 5:12
12Therefore, as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin; and so death passed unto all men, for that all sinned:

From this verse it is plain that sin passed through the first man to all. I do not want you to believe the things I say because I say them, but search the scriptures concerning the soul and see what the word says. I hope that what I said gives you a desire to search deeper into scripture concerning these things.

Science will tell you that your brain is the most important part of your body because it is there that the machinations of thought take place, and that somehow the brain is the organ that creates our thoughts. Some have creative minds, or artistic minds. Some others have the plain garden variety mind like my own. They will tell you that when the brain ceases to function, life is over. That isn’t exactly true. The brain is like any other part of our bodies, whether it is the flesh, bones, liver, or whatever. It is earthly, and its function is to support the soul. It does not have understanding in and of itself. It is like any other organ of the body, an organ made of matter.

The brain does have a function which is to relay messages from the soul to the body. It is the receptor of the soul’s instructions.

Your next question might be why are some people more gifted or smarter than others? I propose to you that it is the condition of their soul translator, which is the brain. Not everyone’s brain is formed the same so it cannot receive “all the stations.” The body is formed by the union of the man and woman, it takes on their characteristics. It is formed in order to house the soul. Many accidents of life (whether a person is musical or not) depend on the ability of the brain. Most of that comes from our parents, because it is their union that brings about the characteristics of the body.

This also should rest your fears about a person who is born without the full function of the brain. They are not lacking anything as far as the soul is concerned; they are complete souls, but their receptors are faulty. Same with people with motor skill problems, or even those people missing arms and legs, etc. They are all complete souls; it is just the shell that isn’t complete.

Knowing that the body is but a shell for the soul, we show our fleshly side when we judge people by their outward appearance: the color of their skin, how smart they may or may not be, or whether we consider the person attractive or not. We should look past those outward signs and see that each person is equally a living soul. Even if you see a person whose body is in shambles, the soul is complete in that individual; their shell may just be cracked.

Aged people should be respected; their souls have spent more time walking this earth, and they have much to offer. How can we think that an older person is less a soul than a person that is full of vitality? The old should be revered because of the soul's knowledge. Their bodies may be showing wear, but their souls have been improving. We should seek to learn from those older than ourselves.

The next question to answer is what place does our body have in our life?

Our body is the very least of what man is. It is the brute part of man which all animals have. We are much more; we are living souls, made in the image of God.

Your body can be thought of as the treasure box and the soul the treasure, or as a vehicle for the soul to move and act in this world. We become so concerned with the box or vehicle that we neglect the weightier portion, which is the soul.

The soul should rule the flesh, but instead, in the majority of us, I included, the flesh rules the soul. Sadly, some people will love their body right into hell.

How does this happen? They submit to the dictates of the body. They sin against God, seeking to please the body. There are sins of the flesh listed throughout the Bible, Gal. 5:19 states that some of the works of the flesh are: fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness (lewdness), idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousies, wraths, factions, divisions, parties, envying, drunkenness, revellings. All of those transgressions can be traced back to their source, which is the flesh.

Just as animals have fleshly instincts, so do people. The brain can sense the brute desires of the flesh, whether it is hunger, lust, or even prominence in the scheme of life, and it will send the signal to get those things at all cost. We need to bring our bodies into subjection to the soul’s instructions, and make it obedient.

Rom 7:21
22For I delight in the law of God after the inward man: 23but I see a different law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity under the law of sin which is in my members. 24Wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me out of the body of this death? 25I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then I of myself with the mind, indeed, serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.

Because of our concern for our bodies, and the false importance we place upon it, we walk this earth in constant fear. We become unwilling to hazard our “lives” (speaking solely of the body, which is our earthly life) for anything. Understand this well, we can not die. Death as we know it in this life is but the shedding of the cocoon. Read 2 Corinthians chapter 5 when you get a chance, I have a couple of scripture verses besides that to share:

Matt. 10:28 And be not afraid of them that kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.

2 Cor. 5:6 Being therefore always of good courage, and knowing that, whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord(for we walk by faith, not by sight); we are of good courage, I say, and are willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be at home with the Lord.

Do you see how plainly Paul speaks about the soul as separate from the body? The soul does not die; all that we lose at death is the flesh we are walking in. The soul is the immortal part of our being either to eternal life or eternal wrath. It’s sad, so many are doing everything they can to keep the shell alive and vigorous, and they neglect the one thing truly necessary: the soul’s salvation. We should not be ashamed because we are getting older and we’re not looking as young as we once did. It is the way of the world. The thing we should be ashamed of is if our souls are stagnant and not improving daily.

Our souls are the active part of our being whereas the body is passive. Think about it, what does the Bible say our bodies are made of? Dust. Gen. 2:7

Next, let’s talk about some things we should understand about the soul.

It is the soul that makes man different from animals. The leading faculty of the soul is our ability to understand and because of that we can worship God. The reason man does not worship God is that his understanding is darkened.
Eph. 4:18
18 being darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardness of their heart;

Apart from a proper understanding, there cannot be proper worship. The Bible says true worshipers are those who worship God in spirit and truth. We should come to church for soul worship, not body worship!

John 4:23-24
23 “But an hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers shall worship the Father in spirit and truth; for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers. 24 “God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”

How can we know the truth if we do not have understanding? How can we have understanding without the Spirit? Our worship isn’t acceptable because the music is outstanding, or because we dress a certain way or do things in the correct order. Our worship is acceptable when we come to God in reverence, understanding who He is, and approaching with souls ready to be searched out by Him from whom nothing is hidden. We cannot think He is pleased with our worship if we are living in presumptuous sin; we need to ask for forgiveness and allow Him to cleanse us from all unrighteousness so our worship would be acceptable to Him.

Our actions are directly related to our understanding. The outside circumstances might influence us somewhat, but all our actions are dependent on our inner man, or soul. What is inside a man, so are his actions. Throughout the Bible we are told of the evil that proceeds from a man’s heart. These are the actions from a corrupt soul, one that is in darkness, and is ruled by the flesh.


Matt: 15:18-20
18But the things which proceed out of the mouth come forth out of the heart; and they defile the man. 19For out of the heart come forth evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, railings: 20these are the things which defile the man; but to eat with unwashen hands defileth not the man.

Another important thing to keep in mind, the only thing that can possibly harm a person’s soul is sin. That is what we should really fear in this life and avoid at all costs even to the hazard of our bodies.

Here is something to think about, the meanest soul in the world is worth more than all the bodies in this world. We think the torments of Hell will be like the pain we feel in our bodies. That is just the torment of the body, what do you suppose the torment of the soul will be like, and that for eternity? To have our souls cast into the lake of fire is something too horrendous to think about.

On the other side, what about the ecstasies we experience in this life? The truly ecstatic feelings we experience are when we are close to God, when we sense His presence in a special way. But even that closeness is tempered by the body. There will be a day when we will be in the presence of God without corruption clinging to the soul. Then we will truly know the joy of the Lord.

The value of the soul also speaks of what should be taught in the pulpit. It isn’t our main need to be taught moral lessons, or to have pep talks in order for the body to feel good. We need the word of God, the word of God in its entirety that we might have our souls transformed by it. God’s word does not come back void. It has transforming power. Why do we see so many churches sick in sin? It is because they chose men’s wisdom instead of God’s wisdom, looking to heal the body instead of the soul!!!

The only thing that can change the soul is the Spirit of God, and He uses the Word of God to accomplish that. Today, there is a lot of effort put into changing men through behaviorism, or psycho therapy, but they are not going to change the soul, they may train the body to respond in certain ways, but as far as true change, that can only be accomplished by God. Everyone in life needs soul changing.

Another thing, the soul cannot find happiness in material things, since it is not material. Only spiritual things will satisfy a soul.

Eph. 1:3
3Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ

You see so many seeking to satisfy their souls with the trinkets of this world, even born again Christians do this. Because of that, they do not live the abundant life. Do not envy those who have more than you or seem to be in a better condition than you, because in truth, those people may have unhappy souls. Instead, praise God for giving you every spiritual blessing, which is far more valuable than anything the world can provide. There isn’t anything of the world that can nourish your soul.

Do you really think your soul is dependent on the world for its sustenance?

Matt.4:4
But He answered and said, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.’”

Ecclesiastes speaks very clearly about the vanity and vexation of worldly things.

We sweat and toil for those things that are only vanity and vexation. How many sleepless nights have we had worrying about things that are unimportant in the whole scheme of things?

Your souls are of excellent and noble being, and excepting angels, they are the top and flower of creation. Due to that, it is an abasement of them to cling to anything here that is worldly. It is only an infinitely great God that can satisfy the soul.


We should look at the things of the world only as they concern our eternal state. We tend to think of prosperity, riches and worldly abundance as good things, and poverty and affliction as evil things. The truth may be that the prosperity and riches are actually judgment against a person’s soul. Those things may puff a man up which would estrange him more from God, whereas affliction and adversity humble the person and bring him closer to God. The things that we should call good are those things that are good for the soul; those things that bring us closer to God. Remember how Lazarus had evil things where the rich man sat in luxury, but when their souls departed this world, the rich man was in torment where Lazarus was in paradise.

How should this understanding of the soul affect our lives?

One subject that is frowned upon in the church is tithing. Think about it, how is holding on to worldly things beneficial to your soul? God doesn’t need our money, but our souls do need to learn to let go of those things that are worldly. I have been without during my lifetime. I’m sure most of us can remember a time when we were needy. Today, I must say God has been very good, but that hasn’t changed my attitude toward money. In my mind, it is all play money to use and spend in this world; it has no benefit to our souls. God provides it for us to use in order to nourish our souls, not to become dependent on it.

Our pastor’s responsibility is to care for our souls, not to worry whether we feel good in the flesh or not, whether our physical needs are being met. Our souls need instruction far more than we need entertainment or self esteem to feel good about ourselves. Anything spoken in accordance to the teaching of the Word is for the good of our souls, I’m thankful he is teaching through the Bible and not teaching man’s wisdom which is vanity and vexation. I think there is great hope for BFB because we have a shepherd who has turned his back on the world and has chosen to honor God through God’s Word, allowing God to change the sheep instead of the world’s wisdom. Our Lord said to Peter, "Feed my sheep," and that is what Pastor Ron is doing each time he speaks from God's Word.

For encouragement and strength, when temptation comes upon you, remember: Your body is not the ruler. Maintain control over yourselves, and resist the temptation. It's only the body seeking to do the soul harm.

If you are facing affliction in your body, do not fear. The things that happen to the body can not damage your soul. If God sees fit to allow you to suffer certain things in your body, it is for your good and to glorify Him. Rejoice even in your sufferings. Your soul will not be damaged by these things.

If you are having controversy with a brother in Christ, it is a fleshly occurrence because our souls can not be offended. Deny the flesh’s lust; forgive your brother 70 times 7. If you speak poorly of a brother in Christ, you aren’t harming him, but you shame yourself, showing that the flesh is ruling your body.

When we pray, we should speak from the soul depths. If our brains cannot process the words for our prayers that our soul wishes to say, God’s spirit carries them to the Father. When we pray for the sick, we need to remember that God is at work even in those times, and to pray for His will in all these situations. He knows the soul’s need. Maybe the person is sick in order that God gets glory.

Please give proper attribution for this article.

98% is my original thoughts and comments, with a few quotes from a couple of Puritans. It wasn't written with the intent of sharing it, but then I thought why not. I used it for a devotional in our church about 6 months ago. Apart from not giving credit to the quoted lines, I hope you enjoyed it. Puritans I quoted were Edward Reynolds and Thomas Boston.

Thanks for clarifying. <img src="/forum/images/graemlins/BigThumbUp.gif" alt="" />

Sometimes with long pieces like this it is difficult to tell if it is original content or merely copied and pasted from elsewhere.

Anybody who wants to use any of it is welcome. I am not looking for any credit. I love when people benefit from anything that I do. My wife said everyone knows what I said already, and probably aren't too interested. It was just that after I finished it, and did the devotional, the more I read it the more I got out of it. Like when you say something to somebody and you are surprised by what you say, thinking where did that come from. I was blessed by it and that was my reason for posting it. My wife did the proof reading because my grammar is poor. Again, I hope others find it interesting and they are free to use any or all of it as they like.

you could have made the truth about our born again spirits just as long as soul and body.

I do not intend to get into an argument, but I do want to point out that your statement is false. It is not necessary to "come forward" whatever that means to be saved, and water baptism has no power in and of itself. These things have been addressed elsewhere in the newsgroup so I don't know why you want to steer the thread back to what I believe are false and heretical views.

Where did Paul say you need to come forward in order to get saved?
Paul and the bible teaches that believing and with faith you are saved unconditional, and coming forward as you think is a conditional salvation doctrine.

Shalom!

I wrote a big ol' rant about altar calls in my old blog. It's called Why Altar Calls Offend Me. It helps explain why so many Reformed churches don't have "invitations" and "altar calls" and all that "come forward to receive Christ" stuff.