The Spiritual Body

THE DAILY WORD
By Jim Seekamp

Thursday June 19, 2008

1 Thessalonians 5:23 (NIV)
23. May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole SPIRIT, SOUL and BODY be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

We have established the fact that the spirit and the soul are separate; they are not the same thing. According to Hebrews 4:12, they can be divided:

Hebrews 4:12 (NIV)
For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to DIVIDING SOUL AND SPIRIT, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.

We have established that the new birth happens in the spirit of man, changing his nature, but that the soul of man still needs to be dealt with after the new birth; through the renewing of the mind.

We've also established that the mind is in the "soul", and your BRAIN is not your "mind".

But lets get back to the human SPIRIT again. We know that it is created incorruptible, and has the nature of God, but what is the human spirit like?

We can look back to the story of the rich man and the beggar named Lazarus to find out more:

Luke 16:22 (NIV)
"The time came when the beggar died and the angels carried him to Abraham's side. The rich man also died and was buried."

Jesus says that Lazarus was CARRIED to Abraham's side. We know this is talking about his SPIRIT, since his body was buried under the ground. That means the human spirit has some sort of substance in the spiritual world, and can be "carried". So it has substance that can be detected by other spirit beings.

Luke 16:22-24 (NIV)
22. "The time came when the beggar died and the angels carried him to Abraham's side. The rich man also died and was buried. 23. In hell, where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side. 24. So he called to him, 'Father Abraham, have pity on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in agony in this fire.'

According to Jesus, the rich man was BURIED, yet he had a body that was burning in hell. The rich man explicitly says he has a tongue and a finger! We know from Jesus' account that the rich man's body is buried in the ground; yet he still has the same body parts! This tells us that the human spirit is like our physical body; with eyes, ears, fingers, etc. There is more evidence of this throughout the Bible:

James 3:6 (NIV)
The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole person, sets the whole course of his life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell.

Notice that the tongue is itself set on fire by hell! That couldn't be the physical tongue, since you have to die to go to hell just like the rich man!

Matthew 5:30 (NIV) (Jesus speaking)
And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell.

According to these words of Jesus, your WHOLE BODY can go into hell! Once again, we know this is not talking about the physical body but the spiritual. This would tell us that we have an entire spiritual body inside our physical body that has the exact same parts, but exists in the spiritual realm rather than the physical!

Matthew 10:28 (NIV) (Jesus speaking)
Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell.

According to this verse, the body can be destroyed in hell! But in order to get to hell, the physical body has to already be dead! That means the spiritual body can be DESTROYED as well!

2 Peter 2:4 (NIV)
For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but sent them to hell, putting them into gloomy dungeons to be held for judgment;

Here we see that angels -- who are defined in the Bible as "ministering SPIRITS" -- can have their spiritual bodies held in gloomy dungeons! That means that spiritual bodies have limitations in the spiritual realm much like our physical bodies do in the physical realm; otherwise these angels could escape from the dungeon!

We have spiritual bodies as well as physical, and it is the spiritual body that will remain after our physical body dies! When you receive salvation, it is for the benefit of the "real you" -- the spiritual man who will live on long after the physical body dies!

PRAYER
Thank You Father for Your life-giving Word. Thank You for sending Jesus Christ to save me by His work at the cross. Thank You for making me a new creation in Christ Jesus. Help me to "put on" the "new self" by receiving with meekness Your Engrafted Word, thus renewing my mind.
In Jesus' Name, Amen.

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