To have a thorough understanding
of what the soul is, I think it is imperative that one should begin with the
creation of man, where it is clearly stated that, "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.
Here one can see clearly that
there are three distinctive features of a human being.
1.
Man formed of the dust of the ground
2.
Breath
of life breathed into his nostrils
3.
Man
became a living being
The apostle Paul also alluded to
the three distinctive features of man by stating; "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" (1Thessalonians
5:23).
On another occasion the apostle
Paul admonished believers by saying, "For you were bought at a price;
therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's" (1
Corinthians 6:20).
Here we see the apostle Paul
admonishing the believer (the living being), to glorify God in his/her body,
and in his/her spirit, signifying that the body and spirit are properties and
responsibilities of the living being. To properly understand how
significant the soul is, we should look at all three distinctive aspects of a
human being so as to know how to deal specifically with the soul.
1. The body
The creature or the man which was
formed by the Lord from the dust of the ground is the body, the mortal and
physical aspect of man, which will at death return to dust as the Lord reminded
Adam after the fall saying, "In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread
till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; For dust you are,
and to dust you shall return" (Genesis 3:19).
The patriarch Job and wise king
Solomon respectively echoed a similar sentiment by stating; "If He (God) should
gather to Himself His Spirit and His breath, all flesh would perish together,
and man would return to dust." And, "Remember your Creator before the
silver cord is loosed, or the golden bowl is broken, or the pitcher shattered
at the fountain, or the wheel broken at the well. Then the dust will return to
the earth as it was" (Job 34:14, 15, Ecclesiastes 12:6-7).
Now the body is not synonymous to
the soul as some people are suggesting, because at death, the soul is said to
leave the body. One example is that of Rachael's death during child birth,
where it is written, "And so it was, as her soul was departing (for she
died), that she called his name Ben-Oni; but his father called him Benjamin."
There is also the example of the righteous dead, who while their bodies were
buried and turned to dust, their souls lay under the altar, and later will live
and reign with Christ (Genesis 35:18; Revelation 6:9,
20:4).
Jesus Christ also attested to the
fact that the body and the soul are two separate entities by saying, "And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the
soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in
hell" (Matthew 10:28).
Thankfully, due to the second
Adam, the heavenly Man, the body is not simply dust you are, and to dust you
shall return, but it is now the temple of the Holy Spirit, and we have been
therefore admonished saying, "Flee sexual immorality. Every sin that a man
does is outside the body, but he who commits sexual immorality sins against his
own body. Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit
who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? For you were
bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which
are God's" (1 Corinthians 6:18-20).
And finally, those who are
heavenly and bearing the image of the heavenly Man will win the final victory
when, this corruptible body will put on incorruption, and this mortal body will
put on immortality. So when this corruptible has put on incorruption, and this
mortal has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is
written: "Death is swallowed up in victory. O Death, where is your sting?
O Hades, where is your victory?" (1 Corinthians
15:53-55).
The crux of the matter is, man is
incomplete without the three aspects of body soul and spirit and so the soul is not immortal unless the body is immortal, and so, the soul who sins shall die.
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To be continued
With brotherly love
Lucius Joseph
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