The nature of man

[Henoch]

1. Introduction
St. Anthony said. “He who knows himself knows God.” St. Clement of Alexandria said: “To know oneself is the greatest of all lessons”

2. Man, the Crown of Creation
Man is the meeting point of all spiritual and physical (material) creation.

God said, Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth (Gen. 1:26-27).

Man's high purpose and special significance are emphasized in that he was created in the image and likeness of God.

Is there a distinction between the “image” and the “likeness” of God? The Holy Fathers agree that there is a distinction…
Image: Man bears the image of God in:
A. Immortality
– Not by nature but by the Grace of God
The dust will return to the earth as it was, and the spirit will return to God who gave it” (Ecclesiastics 12:7).

B. Freedom of Will
– God gave man freedom to act within certain boundaries

C. Reason / Wisdom
– God gave man reason not limited to just the earthly.
– Man's reason is able to rise to the level of the invisible
– God Himself

All the good and noble qualities of man are an expression of the image of God in him.

Man is the only creature that is created to look up (Anthropos)
Likeness:
– It is the moral perfecting of man in virtue and holiness.
– We receive the image of God from God, but the likeness we must acquire ourselves.

To become “in the likeness” of God depends upon our will.
– Sin does not rob us of God's image, but of God's Likeness.

3. Details of the Creation of Man
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 being (Gen. 2:7).
Two actions are distinguished here:
The formation of the body from already existing earthly elements.

The dispensation of God's Spirit, the power of life onto that body.
Man is thus a living union of the earthly and the heavenly, of the material and the spiritual.

4. The Composition of Man
Man is composed of Body, Soul and Spirit
Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely; and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. 1 Thessalonians 5:23
THE BODY
1) Platonism and classical Greek philosophers
– They mistakenly believe that the body is evil and corrupt.
– The real man is the “soul”; and the body is a mere “shadow”.
2) Christian View on the Human Body
– The human body is created by God and is not evil.
– It can be the “Temple of the Holy Spirit” 1 Cor 3:16
– The body participates with the spirit in worship
Let my prayer be set before You as incense, The lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice. Psalm 141:2
For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's. 1 Cor 6:20

– Christ has sanctified this body through His incarnation.
THE SPIRIT
The word spirit is translated from the Hebrew word ruah, “breath, wind”; “breath of life”. In Greek it is pneuma, “wind, breath,” the “vital principle,”.

'Spirit' is used in the Scriptures generally to denote the spiritual, immortal part in man. It is related to worship and divine communion

In Scriptures, the term “Spirit” is used to denote the following:
1) The Spirit of life. The animating Spark which God had enkindled in Adam.
– After the flood: All in whose nostrils was the breath of the spirit of life, all that was on the dry land, died Gen 7:22
– The body without the spirit is dead James 2:26
Man received the spirit of life from God, the Fountain of life, through Adam.

Adam forfeited this right by disobedience, and gradually relinquished his hold upon it, dying away over a life span of 930 years.

Then the body returned to the dust as it was before its creation, and the spirit of life along with the permission , privilege and power to live returned to God its source, origin and giver just as any contingent privilege returns to the giver if its conditions are not complied with.

But through our Lord's redemptive sacrifice, hope has been restored to all mankind through “Jesus the mediator of the New Covenant.” (Heb. 12:24)

Believers “sorrow not as others who have no hope.” (1 Thess 4:13)
By His blood, our Redeemer purchased (Acts 20:2 the spirit of life-rights which Adam had lost

As a result, believers can commit their spirits ( power of life) into God's hand as did Stephen, having faith in the resurrection.
And so it is written, “The first man Adam became a living being.” The last Adam became a life-giving spirit. 1 Cor 15:45
2) The Spirit refers to the mind and the will.
– Paul purposed in the spirit (mind) to go to Jerusalem. Acts 19:21
– A gentle and quiet spirit is very precious in the sight of God. 1 Peter 3:4

3) The Spirit is what lives when we leave this earth
– The dust will return to the earth as it was, And the spirit will return to God who gave it. Ecc. 12:7
– Into Your hands I commit My spirit Luke 23:46
THE SOUL
The word soul is translated from the Hebrew word “nepesh”, a “breathing” creature.
In Greek it is psyche, “breath,”. In Arabic it is called “nafs”.
The word soul is one of the most difficult words in the Bible. In the Holy Scripture and Patristic literature, 'Soul' has a lot of meanings.
It signifies the way in which life is manifested in man.

It is not the cause of life. It is, rather, the bearer of life (Orthodox Psychotherapy)

It does not merely dwell in the body, but is expressed by the body

The soul is fed and nourished by the senses (sight, hearing)

It corresponds to our ego, to the way in which we realize life.

1. The terms “Soul” and “Spirit” are used interchangeably in the Scriptures
– That his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus (James 5:20)
– Let him know that he who turns a sinner from the error of his way will save a soul from death (1 Cor 5:5)
– Beloved, I beg you as sojourners and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul (1 Pet 2:11)
– Let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit (2Cor 7:1)

2. The Soul refers to the whole man.
– The soul who sins shall die (Ezek 18:20)
– In the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight souls, were saved through water. (1 Peter 3:20)
– Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities (Romans 13:1)

3. The Soul refers to the inner life of man i.e. his emotions, passions, feelings and desires
– His soul was strongly attracted to Dinah the daughter of Jacob, and he loved the young woman and spoke kindly to the young woman (Genesis 34:3)
– Christ said ” My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even to death. Stay here and watch with Me”. Mat 26:38
– And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years; take your ease; eat, drink, and be merry.” (Luke 12:19)

4. The Soul is a combination, not an addition
(1) The organism or body is formed;
(2) the animating spirit of life, called “breath of life,” is communicated;
(3) The animated, conscious being, living soul results.
The body is not the soul
The spirit or breath of life is not the soul
But that when these two are united by the Lord, the resultant quality or condition is a living man, a living being, a living soul, possessing of perceptive powers.

Illustration A:
If a coal lump placed under favorable conditions, given access to oxygen, is then ignited, a new product will be initiated–heat.

The coal is not heat, though possessing some of the qualities which, under favorable conditions, will produce
heat.

Neither is the oxygen heat, yet it also, under favorable conditions, will become a heat producing agent.

Thus, applying the analogy, the body is not the soul, though possessing the qualifications necessary to a soul; neither is the breath (spirit) of life the soul.

The body, when properly united with the breath or spirit of life, produces a new being, a soul, a conscious and living creature.
The body and the spirit are distinct entities that may exist apart from each other.
Not so the soul. It is only the effect of their union.

Man is made of the material, the immaterial, and their resultant, which partakes of both, yet is quite different from either. This is the soul Man, made up of two elements, becomes a third thing.

The soul, therefore, is not an addition, a third element. It is the result of their union

There can be no soul without the “material.” Nor can there be a soul without the spirit for it is essential to its existence.

At death, the soul ceases to exist, because body and spirit separate.

5. What happens at death?
Does the breath or spirit of life die?
Surely not, it is a principle or power, like electricity; it cannot die.

Does the body die?
The body is dead before the breath (spirit) of life comes into it; it is alive while the breath (spirit) of life is in it; it becomes dead again when the spirit of life is withdrawn; Once the spirit of life is withdrawn, the body loses the life which animates it, since it has no consciousness, nor feeling of itself, apart from the breath or spirit of life.

What, then, dies?
It is the soul that dies– the conscious being ceases.
Since this soul has been produced by the union of the breath (spirit) of life with an organism (body), separation of these two results in the cessation of the being, the soul–death.

Illustration B:
An unlit candle —› an inanimate human body or corpse;

The lighting of the candle —› the spark of life given by the Creator;

The flame or light —› the conscious being, or the soul

In the case of an accident which would destroy the candle, the flame, of course, would cease; so if the body is destroyed, as by disease or accident, the soul ceases.

If the supply of air is cut off from the candle flame, the light will be extinguished even though the candle is not damaged.

So the soul, life of man, will cease if the breath of life is cut off by drowning or asphyxiation, while the body might be comparatively sound.

A candle cannot be re-enkindled except by an illuminating source, otherwise it remains unlit. Likewise, the human body without the spark of life returns to the dust from which it has been taken.

The promise of resurrection is therefore a promise of a relighting of existence.

Since there can be no being or soul without a body and restored life-power or spirit, it follows that a promised resurrection or restoration of soul or being implies new bodies, new organisms. Thus the Scriptures assure us that human bodies, which return to dust will be transformed; and that in the Resurrection God will give such new bodies as it may please Him to give.
And what you sow, you do not sow that body that shall be, but mere grain–perhaps wheat or some other grain. But God gives it a body as He pleases, and to each seed its own body. All flesh is not the same flesh, but there is one kind of flesh of men, another flesh of animals, another of fish, and another of birds. There are also celestial bodies and terrestrial bodies; but the glory of the celestial is one, and the glory of the terrestrial is another. 1 Cor. 15:37-40

6. When was the soul created?
St. John of Damascus says the body and soul are formed and created at the same time, at the moment of conception. That is why abortion is a sin since it is the killing of a whole human being.

St. Anastasios of Sinai says: “We have no existence of the body without a soul nor is there existence of a soul without a body.”

7. Human Soul vs. Animal Soul
St. Gregory Palamas says that animals possess a soul not as an essence, but as an energy. “The soul of animals is the life for the body it animates, and so animals possess life not essentially but as an energy, since this life is dependent on something else and is not self-subsistent.” Therefore since the soul of an animals has only energy, it dies with the body. By contrast, the soul of man has not only energy but also essence.

8. St. Maximus the Confessor states that the soul has three owers/stages:
1) Nourishment & growth
2) Instinct
3) Intellect
Plants share only the first of these powers

Animals share in that of imagination & Instinct as well.

While human beings comprise all three powers.
From the moment of birth, man passes through the initial stages, before his own rational soul is revealed fully, which from the beginning was already part of his potential. In this way the three powers of the soul are united and consecrated to the Holy Trinity.
This is how the healing of the soul takes place
The scattering of the powers of the soul is sickness and their unification is healing.

Glory be to God Forever.

References:
A. “What is Man?” By H.H. Pope Shenouda
B. “Orthodox Dogmatic Theology” by Michael Pomazansky
C. “The Nature of the Human Person” by Panayiotis Nellas
D. “Orthodox Psychotherapy” by Metropolitan Hierotheos of Nafpaktos
E. “The Origins of the World and Mankind” by Bishop Alexander Mileant
F. “The “Immortality of the Soul” by Archpriest George Florovsky

[NickHassan]

Hi Henoch,
Vain man is nothing except in his own eyes.
He is less that the angels
Far less than the Archangels
And
Far, far less than the Son of God
under God.

Only in the Son of God is this puny worm elevated.

[NickHassan]

Hi Henoch,
Jesus described two places in Lk 16-hades and the bosom of Abraham.
You say the spirit returns to God and the soul does not survive death
so what was he speaking of- the fate of the body?

[NickHassan]

Hi Henoch,
You say
“While human beings comprise all three powers.
From the moment of birth, man passes through the initial stages, before his own rational soul is revealed fully, which from the beginning was already part of his potential. In this way the three powers of the soul are united and consecrated to the Holy Trinity.”

What trinity?

[NickHassan]

Hi Henoch,
You say
“The dispensation of God's Spirit, the power of life onto that body.”

But Scripture says in gen 2.7

” 7And 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 must not alter scripture.
The breath of God is not the Spirit of God.
Man was not enlivened by the Spirit of God but the breath of God.

[NickHassan]

For georg

[banana]

what you got for me, nick ?

[NickHassan]

Hi Georg,
You brought it up so what are your offerings?

[terraricca]

hi all
Mat 10:28 And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.

is there something Christ forgot to tell us?????????

[banana]

Quote (Nick Hassan @ Dec. 17 2009,11:34)

Hi Georg, You brought it up so what are your offerings?

I brought up what?

[terraricca]

hi henock
man was the final creation on earth so he was the crown on earth not in heaven.
and the rules of is environment like gravity,breathing,eating,drinking show him is restrictions.
as for abortions it is a sin but this is the conscience of the person who as to deal with it that is concern not your or any body else, you can control by denouncing it but that where it should stop,God is the juge of all

[Author]

Posts