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You could. But, you won't.
People have a tendancy to find the one or two or even 20 scriptures that are somewhat unclear or that are parabolic or that can be interpreted in a couple of ways and focus on only those.
If we want to know what the Biblical meaning of “soul” is, we'll have to consider the Bible as a whole. Every one of these scriptures deserves our attention. Each one is as powerful as any other. Let us consider them all.
I stopped at psalms, because there are a whole lot of that word in that book. But tommorow, I'll be back at it.Finding them is actually the easy part. Going through them will take more time.
I'm not suggesting that if we are thirsty for knowledge, we stand at the bottom of Niagra falls and open our mouths.
I'm suggesting that we are looking so closely at a very large painting, that we fail to see the whole picture, the true picture.
Step back a little. See it all.Is abortion murder? Yes.
Why? Because the unborn child is a soul.
Is it alive? Yes – therefore it has being.
It can feel – can sense things – it lives off oxygen and nutrients from the blood of the mother and through the placenta.
The baby does not GET a soul upon birth – it IS a soul that forms a body which in turn is born in due course.Our soul is like a seed. That seed contains within itself the power to transform itself.
To build a body that expresses the life contained within it.
The soul is the nature of the spirit that enlivens it.This is why our soul is originally in sin – it is born into corruption by the spirit not of Life but of the knowledge of good and evil.
It is born in a hybrid condition through a hybrid spirit that is not good only or evil only but a mixture of both.
Hence man is able to be moral, to be righteous in his own sight.
Yet in truth he is dead – though his way seems right to him the end of it all is death.
For no hybrid can produce further life only death.This is why the carnal man is at enmity with God and cannot know the things that are of God.
For that man is enlivened by a hybrid spirit – the spirit of this world.
He has a fallen nature – one that is carnal and not true to the original nature of a son of God.When Adam transgressed in the garden he lost for all of us the ability for the original nature to come to life by God.
Instead every man, woman and child born since has been cursed with being quickened to the life of a contrary spirit.That is why we must be born again – and indeed is HOW we can be born again – not of the flesh and a carnal nature.
But a rebirth by the Spirit of God to the original nature of a son of God.
We become redeemed – restored to what we originally were intended to be.This then sets into motion a process that works from the inside out.
Redeeming first the soul by the blood of Jesus Christ.
Transforming the mind by the washing of waters of the Word to renew the mind daily.
And finally quickening the mortal body to resurrection or rapture depending on our physical state on the day this climax occurs.Hi Malcolm,
You say
“For that man is enlivened by a hybrid spirit – the spirit of this world. “I would have said what God created is good because scripture says it is.
Gen 1
“31And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.'
But that good creation submitted to the god of this world and the spirit of the world is the kingdom of that god within men, the kingdom of darkness and sin.Hi malcolm,
You say.
“And finally quickening the mortal body to resurrection or rapture depending on our physical state on the day this climax occurs. “
The resurrection of the just is into a new heavenly body alike to that of the Man from heaven, not the old body of dust.Quote (Nick Hassan @ Sep. 28 2006,22:56) Hi Malcolm,
You say
“For that man is enlivened by a hybrid spirit – the spirit of this world. “I would have said what God created is good because scripture says it is.
Gen 1
“31And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.'
But that good creation submitted to the god of this world and the spirit of the world is the kingdom of that god within men, the kingdom of darkness and sin.
I said“This is why the carnal man is at enmity with God and cannot know the things that are of God.”
by “the carnal man” I mean man as a result of the transgression and his resultant fallen condition.
Quote I would have said what God created is good because scripture says it is. That was before the transgression – he became a hybrid when he partook of the fruits of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
Before that there was no problem with man.Quote The resurrection of the just is into a new heavenly body alike to that of the Man from heaven, not the old body of dust. So God raises them out of the earth as heavenly bodies which they already have?
So he can take these heavenly bodies that they already have and have been living in back up to Heaven?Quote (malcolm ferris @ Sep. 29 2006,02:31) Quote The resurrection of the just is into a new heavenly body alike to that of the Man from heaven, not the old body of dust. So God raises them out of the earth as heavenly bodies which they already have?
So he can take these heavenly bodies that they already have and have been living in back up to Heaven?
Hi Malcolm,
The seed that is planted is the earthly body so that we do not rise naked but clothed in a heavenly body.1Cor 15
” 35But some man will say, How are the dead raised up? and with what body do they come?36Thou fool, that which thou sowest is not quickened, except it die:
37And that which thou sowest, thou sowest not that body that shall be, but bare grain, it may chance of wheat, or of some other grain:
38But God giveth it a body as it hath pleased him, and to every seed his own body.
39All flesh is not the same flesh: but there is one kind of flesh of men, another flesh of beasts, another of fishes, and another of birds.
40There are also celestial bodies, and bodies terrestrial: but the glory of the celestial is one, and the glory of the terrestrial is another.
41There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars: for one star differeth from another star in glory.
42So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption:
43It is sown in dishonour; it is raised in glory: it is sown in weakness; it is raised in power:
44It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body.”
Quote The seed that is planted is the earthly body so that we do not rise naked but clothed in a heavenly body. The seed is a body containing the life as yet unmanifest – true.
Our bodies are a kind of seed of the heavenly body in that sense therefore.
But what I am looking at is the life contained within that seed – which also is called seed.
So forgive me if that is a bit vague, seed is to the life within it as blood is to the life it carries.
I might say “the blood of God” meaning the life contained within the physical blood that carried it.
In the same way when I say “the seed” I mean the soul life contained within it and inseparable from it.
For as the external seed is nothing without life within it – (i.e it is inviable)
So the life within it is not seen or known without the external shell that carries it.MATTHEW 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.Body and soul are mentioned but not spirit.
Why is this?I PETER 1:9
Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls.ROMANS 8:9-11
But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you.
Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.
And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness.
But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you,
he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.The body is dead because of sin.
It must be restored therefore to life – the life that it was intended to have.
The soul also is trapped in sin because of the body it is housed in.
It too must be redeemed back to the nature of God.
To be the image and likeness of God as originally intended.But as far as the spirit is concerned.
We initially have a spirit that is alien to God.
This spirit is not reconcilable to God but needs complete replacement.ROMANS 8:7
Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.So we are given the Spirit of God to bring new life to the soul, and promised that it shall also be restored back to the body
It should have originally had.Hi Malcolm,
You say
“MATTHEW 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.Body and soul are mentioned but not spirit.
Why is this?”and
“But as far as the spirit is concerned.
We initially have a spirit that is alien to God.
This spirit is not reconcilable to God but needs complete replacement.”But scripture says in Ecc 12
” 7Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it”The spirit that you say it alien to God returns to God.
And while we yet live our spirit coexists with God's Spirit.Rom 8
” 16The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God:”so it is not alien to God.
It is the contents of our vessel, sin, that is alien to God, and we need to be cleansed within by the blood of the Lamb..
Quote The spirit that you say is alien to God returns to God.
And while we live our spirit coexists with God's spirit.All life is from God – when Eve said “I have gotten a man from the LORD in Gen 4:1 – it is true – all life comes from God.
Even that which is foreign to Him at present – came from Him and is ultimately subject to him.Quote Rom 8
” 16The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God:”so is not alien to God.
It is the contents of our vessel, sin, that is alien to God, and we need to be cleansed within by the blood of the Lamb..Only those who have the Spirit of God have a life (spirit) that is not alien with God.
EPHESIANS 2:12
That at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world:ROMANS 8:8-9
So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God.
But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you.
Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.So to be without the Spirit of God is to be in the flesh.
Because the soul is enlivened by the spirit of the flesh – the carnal spirit.
Giving it a carnal nature which is completely at odds with God.What are we actually achieving when we – by the Spirit of God – renew the mind daily and
Allow ourselves to be transformed in the inner man? What is being conformed into His image?
Is it our body? No – it remains in its fallen condition – subject to death and weak in its lusts.
Is is our spirit? No – we still have the same carnal spirit at work in our flesh as before.
And His Spirit at work in our soul to work from here outwards.
It is our soul that is conformed – re-patterned – fashioned into the nature – the character of Christ.
And this is done through the trials of our faith and the victory that the overcomer in Christ gains.So our soul through rebirth then begins to build a whole new man.
A body spiritual which the Spirit of God can dwell in.
And as surely as that body is build up – Word upon Word, line upon line, precept upon precept.
So also shall a redeemed earthly body from around this inner man in the resurrection.
To give it true expression as a manifest son of God.Hi Malcolm,
A spirit gives life but is not life.
Jas 2
“26For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.”Hi Malcolm,
The spirit of man gives life to man.
Man does not make carnal his spirit lent him by God.Abortion is murder? Yes – why?
The soul is encased in the body.
And even though the body be no more than jerking nerves and muscles.
Yet it is a soul encased in living flesh. That soul is a life, a being.A seed planted in the earth forms a body for itself from the nutrients derived from the soil.
In like fashion the conceived cell in the womb of a woman forms a body for that life.
The soul builds a body for itself a body from the nutrients derived from the mother's womb.
Now we know that the soul did not originally come from the earth but has a spiritual origin.Where did it come from? God breathed into Adam the breath of live(s) and he became a living soul.
Containing within himself all the souls of the sons of God that would ever come forth onto earth.
The soul is not an earthly entity but an spiritual entity.That soul is important to God and He will lose none of the souls that are His – that fell into earth as a result of sin.
We are 2/3rds spiritual in our makeup and only 1/3rd natural.
Yet how important and inseparable is that 1/3rd?.Now to those who would contest that the soul is given upon birth I offer this question
Why then does the soul not return to God who gave it – as does the spirit?
No – the truth is the soul is that portion of the sons of God – the seed form in which He –
God planted them into earth to be brought forth in due time.
To come forth in a condition of sin due to the fall of our original ancestor Adam.I PETER 1:9
Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls.So the objective of our faith is the salvation of our souls.
And with the salvation of our souls inevitably follows the salvation of our bodies.
For they were formed by and for our souls.
Which in turn came from God and are His offspring.For the soul is the real us. The inner man as Paul terms it.
The soul is the nature of the spirit.
Showing forth in a body the nature and characteristic of the life it contains.
Our souls – as sons of God – were always intended to show forth the nature and life of God.Hi Malcolm,
You say
“The soul is the nature of the spirit”
Why?
Soul and spirit can be called spirit?“And with the salvation of our souls inevitably follows the salvation of our bodies.”
Sorry but I want a new one.Quote A spirit gives life but is not life. Correct – life is shown or expressed by certain characteristics.
These identify the life and its origin and are expressed in a body.JOHN 6:63
It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.The spirit gives life and is inseparable from life, for life given by the spirit cannot remain if the spirit departs.
ROMANS 8:2
For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.This is not a law as in something that is to be kept by men
rather a principle that always must apply – i.e that Life is in Christ Jesus.
That the Spirit of Christ – which is the spirit of God – is Life.
And the spirit of the world – which is the spirit of the flesh – is death.REVELATION 11:11
And after three days and an half the Spirit of life from God entered into them, and they stood upon their feet; and great fear fell upon them which saw them.There are in fact only 2 spirits at work on earth – the spirit of Life and the spirit of death…
Of course – the body cannot live without the spirit.
And the body with a spirit and no soul is just an empty meaningless life.
The soul is the real person, and is expressed in the body as long as it has spirit in it.Quote You say
“The soul is the nature of the spirit”
Why?The rebirth causes in us a nature change
From the carnal nature to the nature of God.
This achieved by the Spirit of God.So now, though the carnal spirit still enlivens the flesh.
The Sprit of God enlivens the soul unto new life expression.
The nature shown forth from within reflects this rebirth.Before the from the heart sprang the nature that was alien to God.
Now – after rebirth – from the heart springs forth the nature of a son of God.
The likeness of God begins to be formed in this earthen vessel.Quote me : “And with the salvation of our souls inevitably follows the salvation of our bodies.”
Nick: Sorry but I want a new one.A restored one is the same thing – when God does a work of restoration it is a good as new.
It is us – but now expressed the way it was originally intended to be
before sin interrupted the whole plan.
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