The Heart the Mind and the SoulPart III
The Soul
The third component is the
soul. What is the soul? The
soul is your living self. It is
your soul that performs either
acts of righteousness or acts
of sin. The soul is composed
of two layers; the outer man or
flesh, and the inner man. The
soul is made alive by the spirit
of life that comes from God.
The life that is given to all flesh on this earth is common
life. It is temporary, leant to us
for a given set life span
determined by the Father. The
immortal Spirit of life also
KEY POINTS
•The soul is our living true self
•There are two layers to the soul: the physical flesh and the inner man
•The inner man is not destroyed by death but goes to sleep
•We must renew our inner man daily by communing with the Holy spirit of God
comes from God and is everlasting. It is held in store for all of God’s children that are born on this earth at the time of
deliverance.
When God created Adam he formed him out of the dust of
the earth. He created man in his own image. When he
breathed into him the breath of life he became a living
soul. He took a rib from Adam’s side and created the first
woman, Eve. And Adam said, “This is now bone of my bone
and flesh of my flesh.” God warned Adam and Eve not to
eat of the fruit of the tree of Knowledge of good and evil.
“But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil thou
shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof
thou shalt surely die.” But Adam and
Eve disobeyed God. When they ate the
poisonous fruit it contaminated their
minds and their flesh. Their minds
were now open to the voice of the
devil, and the root of evil took hold in
their flesh. Death and suffering came
upon them and all of their descendants. The root of evil
became an inherited condition that affected all flesh born
of man in every generation. God also punished woman by
increasing her conception. But he did not increase the
number of the sons of God. The number of righteous was
set before the foundation of the earth. Most of those born
would be children of the devil. Therefore sin multiplied
greatly in the earth. Yet God also said that he would not
lose one of his own. He promised to save his children.
Though we die, if we die in Christ, then we will also live. He
will preserve our soul until his coming.
The soul is our own true selves. The outer man perishes
day by day until he dies, but the inner man is renewed
every day and grows brighter to the all seeing eye of God.
“For which cause we faint not; but though our outward
man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day.” II
Corinthians 4:16. At the death of the soul, the outer man
decays, and the inner man that cannot be seen by the eyes
of man, but is ever witnessed by the Father falls asleep, awaiting the resurrection. The soul is not destroyed
whether of saint or sinner until the second resurrection. At
that time the children of the devil will be burned in the lake
of fire, killing both soul and flesh.
Within the flesh of man is the knowledge of sin. A law is
written in the flesh that opposes point by point each of the
laws of God. These deeds or motions of the flesh are sin.
Romans 7:5, “For when we were in the flesh, the motion of
sins, which were by the law, did work in our members to
bring forth fruit unto death.” Christ brought salvation to
us at his coming. He pointed the way to us. His death and
resurrection freed us from the body of sin and death. He
also taught us how to keep the law in perfection. He taught
us that through the spirit, the inner man is renewed. We
can mortify the deeds of the flesh by resisting temptation
and we can walk in obedience and perfection. Colossians
3:5-7, “Mortify therefore your members which are upon
the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry:
For which things sake the wrath of God cometh on the
children of disobedience: In the which ye also walked
some time, when ye lived in them.” When we obey God and
keep his commandments we are part of him, part of his
body. He becomes the second Adam to us. We become
spiritual, not carnal. We all become new in Christ.
We do not want to always live in this flesh, suffering and
dying, even though we walk with Christ. Our bodies groan
for the adoption. We want to be changed and to be in the
image of our heavenly father. In a moment and a twinkling
of an eye at the last trump, we shall all be changed.
Summary
In summary, we must love God with all of our heart, mind
and soul and with all of our strength. Our heart is the seat
of God, the center or core of a man. It is the place where
our treasure or things most important to us is found. It is
the place of the good conscience and the will to obey. The
law of God is written in our hearts and the desire of the
heart is acted out through the flesh. The mind is the battle
ground. God comes first to the mind to teach you of his
ways. It is seat of the wisdom of God, the place that she
comes to call you. Satan enters easily into the mind but if
you put on the full armor of God you can resist him. The
soul is a combination of the physical flesh and the inner
man. The physical flesh has death and sin in it. But if you
resist evil you will mortify the flesh and become a new
person in Christ. The inner man grows stronger and
brighter and is renewed every day. The outer man ages
and eventually succumbs to death. For those of us who
overcome at the time of Christ’s coming our flesh will be
changed to the image of his flesh, and we will be forever
with the Lord.
Please read
Colossians 3:1-25, Philippians 3:13-21, I Corinthians
15:39-58