Everything in the world is a manifestation of the divine triune principle. Spirit, soul and body are three unified elements of all things: be it a plant, an animal, a person or a cosmic body.
Energy, in contact with matter, gives rise to interaction, the essence of which is life. All living things are alive only by this constant movement. Metabolic processes occur non-stop in cells. Electrons revolve around atomic nuclei. Planets move around their suns. It is impossible to imagine life without this movement, just as it is impossible to imagine that the movement would suddenly stop.
Spirit
The entire Universe was created by spiritual creative energy. And this spiritual energy is the love of the Creator. As St. Luke wrote in his time:
“Love cannot be contained within itself, for its main property is the need to be poured out on someone or something, and this need led to God’s creation of the world.”
Luka Voino-Yasenetsky
Spirit is the divine fire pouring out from the Primary Source and breathing life into a frozen form. And just as energy cannot exist at rest, so the nature of the spirit is eternal movement. The spirit is immortal, just as energy is immortal.
Energy is converted into matter, matter is converted into energy. Energy never disappears, but only changes its form. Therefore, the divine spirit is everywhere and in everything. It is not for nothing that in many traditions God has been likened to the Sun, which gives life to everything on earth. Plants use the energy of photons emitted by the Sun to build their own chemical bonds. For example flora we clearly see how energy, merging with material form, gives birth to life. The same energy of light, undergoing multiple transformations, passes through the entire hierarchical chain of the natural world, creating a riotous variety of species along its path. And in everything, absolutely everything, movement never stops for a moment. This is how presence of mind manifests itself.
A photon of light can be absorbed by an electron, changing the state of the latter - bringing it to a new energy level. But one day, the electron will return to its original position and release the captured photon. The death of a physical form is not the end at all, but only another transformation of life-giving energy, when the spirit leaves its temporary container and returns to the original world of light. The body will one day return to where it came from - into the bosom of nature, and the spirit, which is energy, will again gain freedom and freely flow to where a new incarnation awaits it.
When the spirit leaves the body, matter crumbles into bricks: atoms and quanta. Only presence of mind can unite these bricks into a single system. The system is observed in everything: both in the Micro- and Macrocosm. Atom, cell, organism, solar system- all these are systems different levels reality. Together they form a hierarchy of worlds.
Spirit is present on all levels. Movement is a sign of presence of mind. In the world of physics there is such a movement. expressed by the energy of the quantum. In a free state, energy manifests itself, for example, as a stream of photons of light. In the “captured” state, the quantum transfers its energy to the electron, forming a magnetic field around an even denser nucleus. The death of the physical means the release of quantum energy in the form of photons of light or an electromagnetic field.
Graphic representation of an atom: the nucleus inside and the electromagnetic field aroundSoul
The soul is born at the meeting of the divine spark and material form– spirit and body. She moves as nonstop as all living things. And its path is by default directed towards development and evolution. The souls of living beings pass step by step long haul rebirths, so that each time becoming more complex and improving, one day be born in human form.
Yes, everything has a soul. But only the human soul, as the pinnacle of evolution biological world, is endowed with complete freedom to choose her own path. Choice is the highest gift of the Creator. And it is precisely the possibility of self-determination that makes us like God.
If a person had no choice, there would be no evil, suffering and lies. But then there would be no individuality and creativity. For for everyone there would be only one way. Life would be like a strict algorithm of actions. Such a life would have no meaning and would be similar to the life of biorobots who do not ask themselves questions, do not think, do not feel, do not analyze, but simply do what is set by someone’s built-in program.
In truth, the above is already quite similar to modern world. After all, many people do not use their opportunity to choose. But despite this, everyone has a multidimensional structure called a soul. And everyone has the power to direct their soul towards the path of evolution.
Symbolic representation of the subtle structure of the soul Body
The body is only a temporary container for the finer structures of the human essence. Some classify it as a mortal body of the soul, while others call it only an instrument of the soul on the path of evolution. Both are true. But at the same time, it is worth remembering that spirit, soul and body are inseparable as long as a person is a person. Without a body, we will not be able to interact with the material world. But without spirit and soul, the body turns to dust.
Yes, physical form- only a reflection of the soul, and it is not eternal. But those who belittle the importance of preserving the bodily shell throughout life are wrong. The body was given to us by Mother Earth so that we have the opportunity to gain experience in her world, necessary for the evolution of our soul. And careless attitude towards your body is the same violation as carelessness towards the subtle world. Therefore, there is nothing wrong with taking care of your body. On the contrary, it is important and necessary. You should keep him clean, give him proper rest and listen to his wishes. After all, many desires come from instincts that are given to us for the purpose of survival in the world of matter. Ignoring instincts can lead to undesirable consequences, just like following too much instinctual impulses alone. Remember, life is a constant search for the golden mean. And our incarnation in the world of matter is a training ground where souls, through trial and error, learn to find their middle path.
Physical form is a reflection of the soul, the extreme degree of materialization of the subtle in the dense.
Spirit, soul and body make up every individual unit of the world: be it an atom, an animal, a person or a planet. All living things are consciousness. Some units of consciousness have gone further in their development, some less. After all, from the level of the planet, it may seem that a person is like a microparticle with electrons rotating around the nucleus.
Only these three elements of the universe together organize the movement of life, manifested in development and improvement. One would not exist without the other. After all, light is visible only when it has something to reflect from.
2) Image and likeness
Man was created by God in His own way image and likeness ().| Image of God | Likeness of God |
| Man is created in the image of God. | The likening of man to Divine perfection. |
| Properties of the image: freedom, immortality, rationality, gift of speech, etc. | Free choice of the opportunity to become like God in love, wisdom, goodness, purity, humility, constancy. Knowing God and loving Him. |
| Man, as the image of God, has the potential, the ability to become like the Creator. Man is built in the image of the Holy Trinity (essence, energies and personality). |
It is achieved in synergy - the interaction of human efforts and Divine grace, with the decisive role of grace. |
3) Human structure.
There are two points of view: (man consists of body and soul) and trichotomy (man consists of body, soul and spirit). In the Orthodox teaching about man, the patristic tradition clearly leans towards dichotomism.
Dichotomy
Trichotomy
| The soul's apparatus for communicating with the outside world. |
The lowest spiritual essence. The soul, being in the body, possesses it, using it as a tool and instrument. |
The spirit is the highest part of the soul, containing the ability to know God. |
| Needs: self-preservation, procreation. |
Mental life consists of satisfying the needs of the mind, feelings and will: the soul wants to acquire knowledge and experience certain feelings. |
Three manifestations: conscience, thirst for God, fear of God. As power emanating from God, it knows God, seeks God, and finds peace in Him Alone. |
Violation of the integrity and hierarchy of human nature after the Fall
4) Three states of man in the history of the world.
| 1. Natural | 2. Unnatural (fallen) | 3. Supernatural |
| From creation to the fall. | After the Fall, current state person. | The possibility of restoration was given by the redemptive feat of the Savior. |
| Non-involvement in evil, integrity, chastity. | Severance of connection with God. The hierarchy of structure is distorted: the spirit is subordinate to the soul, and the soul to the body. Self-deification and spiritual blindness begin with the Fall. | It is the fruit of ascetic deed and presupposes free will. The task of man is to restore lost integrity, subordinate the body to the soul, and the soul to the spirit, communion with God. |
5) Three states of mind.
Man connects and combines the life of plants, animals and Angels.
Three main parts or powers of the soul.
If we use the metaphor of a rider and a horse, then the mind (mind) is the rider, the will is the reins, and the feelings are the horse.
| Parts, powers of the soul | Sensitive, irritable (furious) |
Desirable (desirable) | Thinking, reasonable (verbal) |
| Enlightened through | |||
| Temptations | Passions | Self-will | Dreams |
| Means of struggle | Sobriety | Humility | Attention |
| Curb the irritable part of the soul with love, wither the desirable part with abstinence, inspire the rational part with prayer..." / Callistus and Ignatius Xanthopouls/ | |||
Basic powers of the soul before and after the Fall. Path of Healing
| Feelings | Will | Mind |
| Before the Fall, “understand – feel – act” was a single act. | ||
| Before the Fall, feelings were subordinated to reason through the action of Divine grace. | Will is a manifestation of freedom given to man by God and controls the desires of man, directing them to good. | Before the Fall, the harmony of knowledge consisted in the unity of the logical and aesthetic components. The Holy Fathers associated reason primarily with the ability of the human spirit to lead mainly moral life man or with the knowledge of God. |
| After the Fall, feelings became autonomous (separated) from reason and became subject to passions. | After the Fall, voluntary submission to the most good and wise will of God changed in man to slavery to sin. | After the Fall, the mind, as the ability of direct, intuitive knowledge, began to work with passions, lost the ability to contemplate God and was replaced by reason. The fallen nature of man is affected by the blindness of the mind. It does not see its fall, does not see its sins, but cruelly judges and condemns the sins of its neighbors. The genesis of selfhood begins with the Fall. |
| Feelings must be elevated by turning to spiritual objects and subordinated to reason. | It is necessary to use the will to fight passions and acquire (acquire) virtues. It requires renunciation of the sinful will and its submission to the will of God. |
The mind must be cleansed and enlightened with God-revealed truths. “Those are smart who can distinguish between good and evil,” said St. Anthony the Great. Reason is the choice of good, evil person- unreasonable. |
6) Hierarchy of human needs
7) Sensory hygiene. Sense organs – transformation through sanctification.
| Smell |
Taste | Touch | Hearing | Vision (90% of all information) |
|
|
Consecrated |
By censing, by incense. | Holy water, prosphora, Communion in the Sacrament. | Kissing sacred objects, sprinkling of St. water, kneeling, carrying icons at religious processions. | Bell ringing, psalm-singing, soul-saving conversations | Icons, lamps, divine services, temple decorations. |
Mental hygiene. Categories of passionate thoughts and their overcoming.
| Thoughts | Sin against | Destruction | Source | Fighting methods | The goal of the fight |
| Carnal thoughts | human nature | foundations of the natural life of the individual | - sensual lust | testing thoughts, preventing sensual pleasure | purity and dignity of the individual |
| Evil thoughts | neighbor | moral life and devalue religious life | evil will, fueled by feelings of revenge, superiority, vanity | compassion for others and awareness of one’s own imperfections | overcoming hostility, the ability to rejoice in other people's successes |
| Blasphemous thoughts | Holy Spirit | religious life | clouded mind | ignore, do not engage in dialogue, do not lose heart | purity of mind and love of God |
SPIRIT, SOUL AND BODY
In order to understand the very “mechanism” of salvation, by which God in Christ saved man, we must first of all clearly know the very structure of man. Only the word of God tells us correctly about the structure of man.
A living person is tripartite, for he has: spirit, soul and body: “May the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your SPIRIT and SOUL and BODY be preserved completely without blemish at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Thess. 5:23).
It is very clearly stated here that every living person has a spirit, soul and body, and the Apostle’s heartfelt wish is also expressed that the spirit, soul and body of believers will be preserved in their entirety without blemish on the day of the appearance of our Lord.
So we see that man himself is tripartite, having spirit, soul and body, which constitute his entire being, making man similar to the Triune God, because man was created by God in His own image and likeness: “And the Almighty [God] said: Let us create man in Our image, as Our likeness...” (Gen. 1:26) (Hebrew).
What makes a person tripartite are his basic and FUNDAMENTAL PARTS, of which there are TWO - his spirit and his physical body. The main and most important part of a person is the human spirit - which contains the personality of a person.
The second fundamental part of a person is his body.
Of these two main, fundamental parts - spirit and body, the human soul consists, composed of part of the living body and part of the eternal spirit-personality of man. Thus, the two main parts of a person, having entered into interaction with each other (with a living body), form the human soul.
A person has only two independent and fundamental parts - this is the spirit and the physical body, while the soul, made up of part of the spirit of a person and part of his body, is only “an expression of the spirit-personality of a person through his material body” - while this body is alive.
In order to clearly understand all this, we will consider the very process of the creation of man: “And Yahweh God created man from the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life (spirit of lives), and man became living soul"(Gen.2:7) (Hebrew).
It says here that, like a potter, the Lord created man from the dust of the ground, that is, man was already created, but he was dead. Then the Lord breathed into his nostrils the breath of life and only after that the man became a living soul.
By breathing into man's nostrils the breath of life (spirit of life), God thus revived man's physical body. The revived body of a person interacted with his spirit-personality, as a result of which the human soul was formed: “and man became a living soul.”
BREATH OF LIVES
It must be said that the word “spirit” itself, in Hebrew the word “ruach”, can be translated as: “spirit, wind, breath, air, breath.” Reading the Old Testament in the original, one can only understand by the meaning of the context what is being said: about the Spirit of God, or about the spirit of man, or about the wind, about the blow, about the breath, or about the air. Indeed, in Hebrew this word does not stand out in any way even when talking about the Spirit of God. Therefore, the word “ruach” - “spirit” can mean not only the Spirit of God, but also the spirit of man, as well as wind, breath, air, breath or the spirit of any living creature.
About the spirit of life (or breath of life) it is said that God breathed it into man’s nostrils: “And Yahweh God created man from the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the BREATH OF LIFE (spirit of lives), and man became a living soul” (Gen. .2:7) (Hebrew). In the original in this text, the breath of life is conveyed in the plural - the word “chaim”, the meaning of which is respectively: “breath of lives”, “spirit of lives”. For in Hebrew the word "chaim" is plural the words "life". Thus, God breathed into Adam’s nostrils the SPIRIT OF LIVES (plural), and not the spirit of life (singular), as is written in the Synodal Bible!
What does this Biblical fact tell us?
That the very SPIRIT OF LIVES, which the Lord breathed into the nostrils of Adam, is the BREATH OF LIVES or SPIRIT OF LIVES, thanks to which the life of the physical bodies of absolutely all creatures created by God, currently residing in physical, material bodies, is maintained.
And here is the word of Scripture pointing us to the same fact: “because the fate of the sons of men and the fate of animals is the same fate: as they die, so these die, AND ALL HAVE ONE BREATH, and man has no advantage over cattle, because everything is vanity!” (Eccl. 3:19). This text can also be translated as follows: “AND ALL HAVE ONE SPIRIT.”
Solomon says: “AND ALL HAVE ONE BREATH (or one spirit for all), and man has no advantage over cattle.” Man does not have an advantage over cattle precisely in the “breath of lives” that gives life to his physical body, for only in this does man have no advantage over cattle. Because everyone has one breath of life, both man and beast! However, man has a serious advantage over the cattle of his spirit-personality, which is not breathed by God into the nostrils of man, but is already FORMED by God within, according to Zech. 12:1, this will be discussed a little later.
It is precisely because man has the advantage of his human spirit-personality over the spirit of animals that man is appointed to rule over the entire animal world: “And God blessed them (Adam and Eve), and God said to them: be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it, and RULE over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth” (Gen. 1:28).
And the very fact that man was appointed by God as ruler over the entire animal world indicates to us that Eccl. 3:1 is talking about the breath of lives, and not about the spirit of man, which contains the very personality of man. Let me remind you that Eccl. 3:1 says: “AND ALL HAVE ONE BREATH, and man has no advantage over cattle.” We see that the advantage of man over cattle lies precisely in human intelligence, which is two levels higher than the intelligence of animals. Consequently, Eccl. 3:1 speaks of the breath of lives, in which man has no advantage over animals, for the breath of life is the same for everyone.
The “breath of life” that gives life to the physical body of any living creature is one, the single breath of the lives of God - for all creatures created by God who have a physical body. That is why this breath is called in Genesis 2:7 the breath of lives (plural). For it is this breath of lives, emanating from God, that supports the bodily life of absolutely all creatures created by God who now live in physical bodies.
Thus, the very word of Scripture separates the spirit of lives, which gives life to the human body, from the spirit of man, which contains the very personality of man - his ego.
SPIRIT IS THE PERSONALITY OF HUMAN
So, a living person is called in the Word of God a living soul, which implies the fact that only by being alive in a physical body does a person have a soul, which consists of part of the spirit and part of the living body. That is why the human soul is located in order of seniority as follows: “and your (1) spirit, and (2) soul, and (3) body” (1 Thess. 5:23), that is, between the spirit and body of a person.
But we should not confuse the spirit that God breathed into man's nostrils to animate his body with the spirit-personality of man, which is formed within man himself.
The prophet Zechariah writes: “The prophetic word of the Lord concerning Israel. The Lord, who stretched out the heavens, who founded the earth, and who formed the SPIRIT OF MAN WITHIN HIM, says...” (Zechariah 12:1). It has already been said here about the spirit-personality of a person formed precisely inside a person, but not about the spirit - the breath of life, which the Lord breathed into the nostrils of a person - to revive the physical body of a person, which is what the word “formed” indicates: “FORMED the spirit of a person inside him” .
The same spirit of man is said in another place in Scripture: “The spirit of man is the lamp of the Lord, searching all the depths of the heart” (Prov. 20:27).
Also, the Apostle Paul clearly says that a person’s consciousness belongs precisely to his human spirit, that is, to his personal spirit: “For who among men knows what is in a man? Only the SPIRIT OF HUMAN that is in him. So no one has come to know the things of God, only the Spirit of God” (1 Cor. 2:11) (Greek). The Apostle points out that knowledge itself belongs precisely to the spirit of man, which is in him, which is inside man, that is, inside the physical body of man.
Thus the very word of Scripture clearly separates the spirit-personality of man from the spirit of life, which God breathed into man's nostrils to animate his body. For at the moment of a person’s death, it is the spirit of life that gives life to the person’s body and returns to God, who gave it: “And the dust will return to the earth as it was; and the spirit returned to God, who gave it” (Eccl. 12:7).
After the spirit of life leaves a person's body, his body becomes dead. This is followed by the separation of the spirit-personality of a person from his already dead body. Having separated from the dead body, the spirit-personality of a person descends underground - into the Kingdom of the Dead.
Our Lord Jesus followed this same path after His death on the cross.
On the cross, the Lord Jesus delivered into the hands of His Heavenly Father precisely the SPIRIT OF LIVES (the breath of lives), by which His body was alive and by which every physical body lives: “Jesus cried out with a loud voice and said: Father! INTO YOUR HANDS I COMMIT MY SPIRIT. And having said this, he gave up the ghost” (Luke 23:46).
Having given the SPIRIT OF LIVES on the cross into the hands of the Heavenly Father, who, having left the body of Jesus, made His body dead, the Lord Himself came to life with His human spirit and descended into the underworld. That is, after His death on the cross, having already become a spirit, like every person after his death, the Lord descended into the underworld with His human spirit-personality.
The Apostle Peter speaks about this this way: “For Christ also, in order to lead us to God, suffered once for our sins, the righteous for the unjust, being put to death in the flesh, BUT ALIVED BY THE SPIRIT, which He went and proclaimed to the spirits in prison. .. (Greek)" (1 Pet. 3:18,19).
The Apostle Peter says that after His death on the cross, the Lord descended into the underworld with HIS HUMAN SPIRIT and there announced His victory over Satan. The Lord announced in the underworld His victory over all those who rebelled against the power of God, that is, the Lord announced His victory fallen angels and to demons already in the underworld. Then Jesus ascended to the Paradise of the Underworld and remained there with the saved spirits of the righteous until the day of His resurrection in a physical body.
Having already been resurrected in His physical body, the Lord appeared to His disciples, who were confused and afraid, because they thought that they were seeing a spirit: “They were confused and afraid, and thought that they were seeing a spirit” (Luke 24:37).
The fear of Christ’s disciples was natural, because they all knew that Jesus had died, and therefore, when they saw Jesus alive, the disciples were afraid, because the disciples thought that they were seeing a spirit. Only because of the accomplished fact of the death of Jesus Christ on the cross did the disciples accept the risen Lord as a spirit. Please note that the disciples perceived the risen Christ not as a soul, but as a spirit, for they understood the very structure of man quite well - unlike modern Christians.
“But He (Jesus) said to them: Why are you troubled, and why do such thoughts enter your hearts? Look at My hands and at My feet; it is I Myself; touch Me and look at Me; for THE SPIRIT DOES NOT HAVE FLESH AND BONES, as you see I have. And having said this, he showed them his hands and feet” (Luke 24:38-40).
When the Lord Jesus appeared to His disciples after His physical resurrection, He clearly told them that what His disciples saw was not the spirit. To prove all this, the Lord invites the disciples to touch Him: “touch Me and look at Me.” Further, the Lord argues for the fact that he is before the disciples precisely in His physical body with these words: “for a spirit does not have flesh and bones, as you see I have.”
The words of Christ: “a spirit does not have flesh and bones” clearly indicate to us that only the spirit of a creature can be incorporeal, but not the human soul.
Thus, we can know that a person’s self-awareness, that is, his personality, is located precisely in the spirit of a person. We can also know that only the spirit of a person can be incorporeal, but not the human soul.
So, in the composition of a person there are two of his main parts - the spirit formed inside a person and his physical body created by God - just as a potter sculpts from clay: “O man, who are you in fact, arguing with God? Will the stucco say to the one who blinded him: “Why did you make me like this?” Or does not the potter have power over the clay, from the same mass to make one vessel for honorable use, and another for low?” (Rom.9:20,21) (Greek).
While the human body is alive, thanks to the breath of life from God giving life to the human body, then interacting with the human spirit living body forms a soul, where part of the spirit and part of the body are combined into a single whole. Therefore, a person’s soul exists only as long as his body lives, but if the body dies, then the person’s soul itself dies and disappears. We will consider details indicating that the soul does not exist without a living body later.
When in the word of Scripture we are called to save our soul, then this salvation of the soul implies precisely the complete salvation of man - the salvation of the entire tripartite being of man - his spirit, soul and body (1 Thess. 5:23).
The Apostle Paul clearly told us about the fact that in his frame a person has exactly two fundamental parts, with these words: “The spiritual body is sown, the spiritual body is raised. THERE IS A SOUL BODY, AND THERE IS A SPIRITUAL BODY” (1 Cor. 15:44).
Thus, the Apostle Paul clearly states that man has two fundamental parts - TWO BODIES - a mental body and a spiritual body. From these two fundamental parts of a person his soul is composed.
The spiritual invisible body of man in Scripture is called the human spirit, in which his personality is located. The spiritual body is the physical, visible body of a person. After all, it is said: “And Yahweh God formed man from the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life (spirit of lives), and man became a living soul” (Gen. 2:7) (Hebrew). In this biblical text we are presented with the creation of man in two stages. For it is said that God first created man from the dust of the ground. That is, man was already created, but he was dead, and in this dead state he was called by God only man.
Then God breathed into his nostrils - his breath of life and the man came to life. And only when a person has already come to life - by the breath of life from God, due to the revival of his dead body, a person is already called a living soul in the word of God. That is, it was the revival of the previously dead human body that made man a living soul!
This same fact is also stated in 1 Cor. 15:44, where the Apostle Paul says that through our faith it is our spiritual body that is sown into the death of Christ: “a spiritual body is sown, a spiritual body is raised.” That is, it is our physical body that is sown into the death of Christ, because this physical body of each person was crucified by Christ on the cross and in the flesh of Christ: “But those who are Christ’s HAVE CRUCIFIED THE FLESH with the passions and lusts” (Gal. 5:24).
To crucify the flesh with its passions and lusts means to be conformed to Christ in the likeness of His death: “Do you not know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were immersed in His death? So we were buried with Him through baptism into death, so that just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might begin to walk in newness of life. For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, we, of course, will also be united in the likeness of the resurrection” (Rom. 6:3-5) (Greek).
Only by being conformed to Christ in the likeness of His death can we receive the fullness of God's New Testament grace. In other words, only through faith, by SOWING ourselves into the death of Christ - with our physical body and soul, do we gain the SPIRITUAL EXPERIENCE of entering the Kingdom of Heaven, while still on Earth.
By works of faith, having sowed our soul into the death of Christ, natural life brought up by the flesh, we become spiritual people who no longer live in the flesh, but in the spirit. That is, by sowing into the death of Christ our natural life according to the flesh, we gain Church grace, since it is the natural, carnal life of man that is in complete contradiction with the will of God: “For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on carnal things, but those who live according to the Spirit think about spiritual things. To be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace, because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for they do not obey the law of God, AND THEY CANNOT. Therefore those who live according to the flesh CANNOT please God” (Rom. 8:5-8).
It should also be said that by calling the physical body of a person a spiritual body, Paul emphasized the very connection between the living physical body and the human soul. For the life of the human soul itself depends only on the life of the physical body of a person, because according to the word of Scripture, the soul of a person can exist only in the presence of a living physical body of a person.
That is why, speaking about God’s salvation of the entire tripartite being of man, the Apostle Paul mentions the soul of man between the spirit of man and his body: “May the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely, and may your entire nature, SPIRIT AND SOUL AND BODY, be perfectly preserved at the coming Our Lord Jesus Christ" (1 Thess. 5:23) (Greek).
SPIRIT, SOUL AND BODY
So what does a person’s spiritual body look like?
The spiritual body looks exactly the same as the physical body of a person, for it was the spiritual body that served as the standard according to which our physical body was “molded” by God. For the spiritual body (for the spirit of man), his physical body is a perfect garment: “he clothed me with skin and flesh, he knit me together with bones and sinews” (Job 10:11).
Therefore, without a physical body (in a spiritual body), the sinner is naked and anyone who sees him in the underworld (in the Kingdom of the Dead) will know everything about him, that is, will know everything about his sins. For the physical body covers and thus hides (like clothing) the very inner essence of the human spirit. That is why it is said: “I advise you to buy from Me gold refined by fire, that you may be rich, and white clothing, that you may be clothed, and that the SHAME OF YOUR NAKEDNESS may not be seen; and anoint your eyes with eye salve, that you may see” (Rev. 3:18). ).
It speaks here about the spiritual nakedness of man, because God simply cannot call the nakedness of man’s physical body shame, for God Himself created man naked: “And Adam and his wife were both naked, and were not ashamed” (Gen. 2:25). Therefore, God calls shame the nakedness of man’s spiritual body, which reveals the multitude of sins of his flesh, which were imprinted on man’s spiritual body through the evil angelic nature of “sin,” thus desecrating the soul and spirit of man. From all of the above, we can conclude that the spiritual body of a person, in spiritual reality, looks the same as the physical body of a person.
So, a person has two fundamental parts: spirit and body, which, with a living human body, come into contact with each other and thus form the soul.
For example, if you take two glasses of the same size: one yellow color(spirit), and the other is blue (body) and connect them partially, overlapping each other, then at the place of their connection these glasses form green color(soul). So, having only two glasses, we get three colors: yellow, green and blue - spirit, soul and body are similar.
If we separate the two original glasses: yellow and blue, then the green color will disappear and we will only have two glasses left: yellow and blue. This example clearly shows us that the soul (green color) is not a separate, independent part of a person, like his spirit and body. For for the existence of the soul, both the spirit of man and the living body of man are necessary.
If the body dies, then the soul also disappears, because the very connection between spirit and body is broken, and this connection is the soul, for only in this connection can the human soul exist.
That is why, calling us to save the soul, the Lord calls us in this way to acquire a new (sinless) body: “And do not be afraid of those who kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul; but rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell” (Matt. 10:28).
At first glance, it may seem that the Lord is saying that the soul has a separate existence from the body, but this is not so, because here the Lord connects the soul with the body, in the last part of this text, saying: “but fear Him more who can and soul and body to be destroyed in Gehenna.” By saying this, the Lord connects the soul with the human body, for the soul of a person cannot exist separately from his body, because the soul itself consists of part of the spirit and part of the living body. That is, in the Biblical understanding, the salvation of a person implies the salvation of his entire tripartite being, through the replacement of a corrupted body (with its nature of “sin”) with a new sinless body - already at the first resurrection of the dead.
So, a person’s self-awareness, that is, his personality, is located in the spirit of a person.
With the merging of the human spirit and body, a soul appears, which is also inherent in self-consciousness, but only because it includes a part of the spirit, which contains the very personality of a person - his “ego”. That is, the soul is actually the spirit of a person that has found its expression in the material world through the physical body of a person and therefore acquired the very “color-shade” of the physical body through this expression.
This is similar to how a diver puts on a heavy diving suit, which significantly limits the movement of that person. However, in a diver’s spacesuit, it is the person himself who moves everything, but due to the restriction of him by the spacesuit, all his movements differ from the freedom of movement of a person without a spacesuit. In the same way, our human spirit-personality is expressed precisely through our body, which, unlike a spacesuit, a product of human hands, is perfect in its structure and gives us a certain freedom of action.
Only through the physical body of a person his own spirit-personality is expressed, just as through the movements of a person in a diving suit the very actions of the physical body of the person in this suit are expressed. That is why the very expression of the spirit-personality of a person, already through his physical body, is called in the word of Scripture a living soul, and the living physical body of a person is already called a spiritual body.
Again, let's return to the example with yellow and blue glasses. Let these be two round and flat glasses of the same size. If we put blue glass (body) on yellow glass (spirit) so that it completely covers the yellow glass (spirit), then the top view of this connection will show only a single green color. That is, the composition itself, such a green color, will include yellow and Blue colour these two glasses, which in this merger became one single green, thus losing its individual color.
In the same way, when the spirit of a person and his living physical body merge, these two fundamental parts of a person merge into one single whole - INTO THE SOUL OF A MAN. For although I say that the spirit of a person is, as it were, clothing for the spirit-personality of a person, in fact, the spirit of a person (his spiritual body) permeates the very physical body of a person, merging with it into a single whole and forming in this merging a new form - the soul person.
The very soul of a person (green color) is actually the spirit of a person (yellow glass) only expressed through the living physical body of a person (blue glass).
The human spirit, being expressed through the living physical body of a person, acquires with this expression the very color-shade of the living body (which is blue glass). Therefore, being expressed through the living body of a person, the spirit-personality of a person will no longer be expressed yellow spirit (yellow glass), but with a mixed color - green, because it is precisely this color-shade that gives the spirit-personality to the living body of a person (blue glass).
From all this it is clear that the soul of a person is only an expression of the spirit-personality of a person through his living physical body. The very “I” of our soul actually belongs to our spirit-personality, which contains our “ego”. Our feeling of our soul as the center of our entire being is in fact our feeling of our spirit-personality already “dressed” in the unique and perfect “suit” of the human body. This is how our spirit personality became one with our physical body.
We have an experienced feeling of our existence as a “living soul” from our birth, since due to our sinfulness we do not have the experience of feeling our spirit, for our spirit is dead for contact with the spiritual world, due to the nature of “sin” in our body.
However, even living in sinful flesh, which isolates us from spiritual reality, we can clearly know about the existence of our spirit - through the voice of our conscience and through intuition, which belong only to our human spirit.
“For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword and pierces to the dividing of soul and spirit, joints and marrow, and is able to discern the considerations and thoughts of the heart. And there is no creature hidden before Him, but everything is naked and open before His eyes: to Him we will give an account” (Heb. 4:12,13) (Greek).
It says here that the word of God penetrates even to the division of soul and spirit. Then follows a clarification of how all this happens: the word of God penetrates through the joints and bone marrow, where the very merging of the soul and spirit of a person occurs, thus separating what comes from the spirit and what comes from the soul (from the connection of the part of the spirit with our flesh). After all, only a part of the spirit and a part of the body participate in the contact between the spirit and the living human body.
Our very soul from our birth is in slavery to the flesh, which is strengthened by the nature of “sin” that entered man with the fruits of the forbidden tree, due to Adam and Eve’s disobedience to God. Because of this strengthening by nature, the “sin” of the human body, that part of the body that is part of the soul, has become much stronger than that part of the human spirit, which is also part of the soul. The very spirit of man led the entire being of man until the time when the nature of “sin” entered the human body.
Entering the human body forbidden fruits the “sin” nature has killed the ability of our spirit-personality to contact spiritual reality and has also taken over the entire tripartite being of man - through his body, in which the “sin” nature has settled.
The result is that our soul now lives by logic or feelings. For the same reason, our soul is characterized by logical calculations of what is good and what is evil, and we are also characterized by violent emotional expressions of a different nature.
The spirit of a person of the highest kind has in itself knowledge and conscience. Therefore, you will not be able to suppress the voice of your conscience - the voice of your spirit-personality, even using the “correct” logic of your soul to do this. If a person is convicted by his own conscience, then he will not be able to close its mouth with the “crooked” logical arguments of his soul, educated and instructed by sinful flesh. Conscience can be calmed only by fulfilling all its requirements.
Living word God, penetrating into the heart of a person, divides his spirit and soul, through influencing his conscience, forcing a person to condemn his own natural deeds and intentions and encourages him to act according to his conscience.
A living person is called in the Word of God a living soul, which implies the fact that only when alive in a physical body does a person have a soul, which consists of a part of his spirit and a part of his living body.
The soul of a person is an expression of his spirit-personality through his own living physical body. It is in this expression that our spirit acquires the very “color” of our sinful body - the sinful “color” of the soul. That is why a person’s physical body has an evil and total influence on the formation of a person’s very personality, that is, his soul.
Being under the influence of sinful flesh, our soul received education from the flesh, and not education from our spirit, which man lived before his fall. Therefore, in order to now save the entire tripartite being of man through God’s salvation, man must completely reject his soul living under the power of the flesh. All this must be done by a person in order to save his soul: “...for whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it” (Matthew 16:25).
The soul of a person is an expression of his own spirit-personality, which (personality) is already expressed through his own living physical body, acquiring in this expression the “color” of the body. For example, having the body of a man, the spirit-personality of a person will be colored as male, just as having the body of a woman, the spirit-personality of a person will be colored as female. That is why, having entered our bodies, the nature of “sin” also had a deep and comprehensive influence on the formation of our entire personality, thus “coloring” our spirit-personality in the “colors” of our already sinful body with all its sinful deeds, which, when committed, desecrated our soul and our spirit.
So, a person consists of two fundamental parts: spirit and body. Only by being alive does a person also have a soul, which is an expression of the very fusion of the spirit of a person and his living body into a single whole.
As soon as a person’s body dies, his soul itself disappears, but the spirit of a person (containing the very personality of a person) remains forever, for the spirit of a person has an eternal nature, because the spirit of a person was created an exact copy the eternal Spirit of God.
After physical death, each person becomes a spirit without a physical body. Thus, everyone who has died, after his death, is in the underworld, awaiting God’s reward there for the deeds of his life lived in the human body.
A GOOD EXAMPLE OF RESURRECTION
Here is another scripture that clearly confirms all of the above. The prophet Ezekiel writes: “The hand of the Lord was upon me, and the Lord brought me out in the spirit and set me in the middle of a field, and it was full of bones, and he led me around around them, and behold there were very many of them on the surface of the field, and behold they were very dry. And he said to me: Son of man! will these bones live?
I said: Lord God! You know it. And he said to me: prophesy on these bones and say to them: “Dry bones, hear the word of the Lord!” Thus saith the Lord God to these bones: Behold, (1) I will put breath into you, and ye shall live. (2) (A) And I will cover you with sinews, (B) And I will make flesh grow on you, and I will cover you with skin, (3) And I will bring breath into you, and you will live, and you will know that I am the Lord” (Ezek. 37:1 -6).
I specifically divided this passage of Scripture into parts and numbered them.
The Lord said, “Thus says the Lord God to these bones: Behold, (1) I will put breath into you, and you shall live.” That is, the Lord here speaks specifically about the human spirit formed by God inside man. The Lord first of all speaks about the spirit of a person, in which his personality is located, so God connects the spirit of a person with his bone, but not only in this place.
The Proverbs of Solomon says: “A cheerful heart does good as medicine; sad spirit dries the bones" (Prov. 17:22). Solomon’s words: “a dull spirit dries up the bones” clearly indicate to us the very connection of a person’s spirit with his own bones, for it is said here that a dull state of a person’s spirit negatively affects his bones. This is how we see the connection between the spirit and the bones of a person.
Therefore, it is the spirit of a person, in which his personality is contained, that will give life to the dead bones of a person - by entering the dead bones, according to the word of the Lord: “I will put spirit into you, and you will live.” That is, God will introduce into the dead bones the spirit-personality of each person to whom all these bones belong - to give life to all those bones. After all, it is to DEAD AND DRY BONES that the Lord says: “dry bones!” listen to the word of the Lord! Thus says the Lord God to these bones: Behold, I will put breath into you, and you will live” (Ezek. 37:4,5).
(2) After these dry dead bones have already come to life, that is, after the spirit-personality of man himself enters into these bones to revive them: (A) the Lord will cover them with sinews, (B) and grow flesh and skin on them.
And only after this, when all the physical bodies belonging to the same bones have already been restored, does the Lord again speak about the spirit; but no longer about the spirit-personality of man, but about the SPIRIT OF LIVES, that is, about the BREATH OF LIVES: “Then He said to me: prophesy to the Spirit, prophesy, son of man, and say to the Spirit: Thus says the Lord God: come from the four winds, Spirit and breathe on these slain, and they will live” (Ezek. 37:9).
Thus, we can understand that when he said to the dead bones: (3) “I will put spirit into you, and you will live,” the Lord did not say this about the breath of life, which the Lord once breathed into Adam’s nostrils to revive his physical body - at his creation, but about the human spirit, about the spirit-personality of man, which God formed precisely within man. This spirit-personality, entering dry bones, will revive them in this way.
We read further: “I prophesied as I was commanded; and when I prophesied, (1) there was a noise, and behold a movement, and bones began to come together, bone to bone. (2) (A) And I saw: and behold, veins were on them, (B) and flesh grew, and skin covered them from above, but there was no spirit in them (that is, there was no breath in them - the breath of lives).
Then He said to me: prophesy to the Spirit, prophesy, son of man, and say to the Spirit: Thus says the Lord God: from the four winds come the Spirit (from the four sides) and breathe on these slain, and they will live. And I prophesied as He commanded me, (3) and the spirit entered into them, and they lived, and stood on their feet—a very, very great army” (Ezek. 37:7-10).
So, in this action of God, in which the prophet Ezekiel himself participated, we are presented with the PROCESS OF THE RESURRECTION of man, as indicated by the words: “bone with bone.” That is, the bones belonging to certain people began to come closer and unite, as the words clearly indicate to us: “bone with bone.” All this movement and connection of previously dead bones occurred only after the spirit of the people (spirit-personality) to whom these bones belonged - even during their earthly life - entered these bones.
As the Lord said, so it happened, but pay attention to how it all happened.
To revive the bones, the Lord did not resort to the help of the Spirit - from the four corners of the world, for God the Father Himself is the Father of spirits (Heb. 12:9), which again indicates to us that the bones are connected with the spirit-personality of man - with the spirit, which God formed within man (Zech. 12:1). For the spirit-personality of man belongs to the spiritual sphere of God the Father.
In order to quicken the dead bones, God introduced into them the spirit-personality of each person to give life to these bones. After all, it was God who said to the bones: “I will put spirit into you, and YOU WILL LIVE.” It was this introduction of human spirits into their dead bones that produced the effect that brought these bones together.
From these bones the bodies of those people to whom these bones once belonged were formed. That is, having entered his dead bones, the spirit-personality revived the bones belonging to each person personally and collected them like this: “there was a noise, and there was a movement, and the bones began to come closer together, BONE TO BONE” (Ezek. 37:7).
But to revive all these restored physical bodies, already covered with flesh and skin, but still dead, it took the BREATH OF LIVES of the Holy Spirit - from the four winds or from the four sides, which points us to the four cardinal directions, that is, points to the material the sphere of the Holy Spirit. For the physical body of a person belongs to the material sphere of the Holy Spirit.
Please note that here we are talking specifically about the BREATH OF LIVES coming from the Holy Spirit, which the Lord breathed into the nostrils of Adam, that is, about the spirit of lives (plural) that gives life to all the physical bodies of all living beings created by God.
That is why the Lord says: “prophesy to the Spirit, prophesy, son of man, and say to the Spirit: Thus says the Lord God: from the four winds (from the four sides) come the Spirit and breathe on these slain, and they will live.” And only after the prophet uttered the prophecy “the spirit (breath of lives) entered into them, and they came to life and stood on their feet.”
Thus, we see that the resurrection of a person itself occurs in two stages. These two stages can follow each other or occur almost simultaneously. For first of all, his spirit-personality returns to a person’s body, and only then is his body revived by the breath of lives, that is, by the spirit of lives emanating from the Holy Spirit. All this can happen almost simultaneously, depending on the will of God Himself.
We also see that the sphere of God the Father belongs to a bone in the human body, representing the spirit-personality of man. So we can understand that the bones of the human body are the highest part of his body, followed by blood in seniority and only then the flesh of the body. We also see that it is in the bones of a person that the very contact of the spirit-personality of a person with his living body occurs, thus forming the human soul.
We also see that the spirit of a person belongs to God the Father and the spirit of a person does not disappear anywhere, but after the death of a person, it is separated from the dead human body and descends to the underworld, where it resides. A person's spirit can be claimed by God the Father and returned to his physical body.
The fact that all already deceased people, deprived of their physical bodies, in this moment alive, being with their human spirit in the underground kingdom of the dead, it is clear from the words of the Lord Jesus: “And that the dead will rise, and Moses showed at the bush, when he called the Lord the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. God is not [the God] of the dead, but of the living, for with Him all are alive” (Luke 20:37,38). That is, the Lord says that, in the spiritual reality controlled by God the Father, everyone who has already died physically is now still alive.
All dead people are currently disembodied spirits that are collected in the underworld, the righteous in its upper part are in Paradise, and sinners in its lower part are in a place of torment. The holy righteous people tested in the Old Testament and the wise virgins of past centuries will leave the underworld on the day of the first resurrection, on the day of the clear appearance of Christ.
All saved people, like the thief on the cross (Luke 23:43), according to the imputed righteousness of the Law, will remain in the Paradise of the underworld for another thousand years, until the second resurrection. Also, all sinners will remain in the underworld in punishment for another thousand years - until the judgment of God the Father (until the second resurrection).
We also found out that the breath of lives (spirit of lives), for reviving the human body, belongs to the Holy Spirit - His material sphere, and the spirit-personality of man itself belongs to the spiritual sphere of God the Father. It is these truths that are the keys or important concepts- complementing and revealing so many of the mysteries of God.
APPEARING CONTRADITIONS
It must be said that there are texts in Scripture that seem to contradict the fact that the human soul is mortal and seem to contradict the fact that the soul does not have its existence separately from the human body. For example, the well-known 15th Psalm: “For You will not leave my soul in hell, nor will You allow Your holy one to see corruption” (Ps. 15:10). It says here that it is the soul of Christ that will not be abandoned by God in hell and that His body will not see corruption.
The Apostle Peter quoted this passage of Scripture, applying it to Christ and supplementing it with his own testimony: “He (David) first said about the resurrection of Christ that His soul was not left in hell, and His flesh did not see corruption. This Jesus God raised up, of which we are all witnesses” (Acts 2:31,32).
Quoting this Psalm, the Apostle Peter connected the fact that the soul of Christ was not left in hell, that is, in the underworld, with the fact that God raised this Jesus in His own Human body, to which they are all witnesses. Thus speaking, the Apostle Peter connected the life of Christ in the human body with His soul, for the Scripture says that the soul and life of a person in his physical body are one thing.
That is, to be a living soul means to live in a physical body: “And his soul draws near to destruction, and his life to them that kill” (Job 33:22) (Hebrew). It is said here that “the soul of a person is approaching DESTRUCTION,” and then a clarification follows - what exactly is this approach of the soul to its destruction: “his life has approached - to those who kill it.” That is, the very physical life of the one we are talking about here has already come to its end. Therefore, approaching the death of the soul is approaching the end of a person’s very life in his physical body.
Therefore, when he says that the soul of Christ was not left in hell, the Apostle Peter speaks specifically about the life of Christ in His Human body, which was not left by God in hell, but was very soon returned to the Human body of Jesus after His death. Indeed, in full agreement with the word of this prophecy about Christ, which David spoke about Him, Jesus was resurrected in His Human body after a very short period of time, about 40 hours. So even the Human flesh of Christ did not have time to undergo corruption during that entire short period of time during which the Lord Jesus was His Human SPIRIT in the Underworld.
The soul-life itself, both of humans and animals, and of every living creature, is closely connected in Scripture with blood: “for the SOUL OF EVERY BODY IS ITS BLOOD, IT IS ITS SOUL; Therefore I said to the children of Israel, “You shall not eat the blood of any body, for the life of every body is its blood; whoever eats it will be cut off” (Lev. 17:14).
The Lord says: “For the life of every body is its blood.” Notice here the soul is presented to us as the blood of the body. We know that if all the blood leaves a person’s body, he will die. Therefore, saying that the soul of every body is its blood, the Lord literally calls the soul this way: the LIFE of a person’s physical body, for without blood a person is simply unable to live physically.
According to the same word of the Lord, blood is the soul of every body, that is, blood is the very life of the human body. So we see that the soul is closely connected with the very life of the human body, for the soul itself denotes the life of the human body.
For the same reason, it was the sacrificial blood, which depicted the substitutionary life-soul of Christ, that cleansed a person from his sins: “... because the life of the body is in the blood, and I have appointed it for you on the altar to cleanse your souls, for this blood cleanses the soul "(Lev.17:11). That is, the purification of the soul occurred precisely through the replacement of the soul-life of the sinner with the soul-life of a pure sacrifice, killed for the sinner’s sin.
The Lord Jesus shed His Blood on the cross to cleanse us from our sins, but the Lord did not die on the cross from the loss of His Blood, because the Lord Himself gave the spirit of life, which gave life to His body, to His Heavenly Father: “Jesus cried out with a loud voice and said: Father! I commit My spirit into Your hands. And having said this, he gave up the ghost” (Luke 23:46). It says here: “Having said this, (Jesus) gave up the spirit,” that is, the Lord gave up precisely the breath of lives, or in other words, He gave up the spirit of lives.
So, the Lord Jesus died on the cross not from the loss of His Blood, but by Himself giving the spirit of lives to God the Father. After all, even earlier the Lord said to the people: “This is why the Father loves Me, because I lay down My life in order to take it again. No one takes it away from Me, but I Give it Myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to receive it again. I have received this commandment from My Father” (John 10:17,18).
So we understand that the Lord Jesus did not die on the cross from the loss of His Blood. However, it is said everywhere that the Lord redeemed us precisely with His Blood. And that's true! Since blood is the soul of the body, which the Lord laid down for us: “By this we know love, that He laid down His SOUL for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers” (1 John 3:16). That is, the Lord laid down His life for us, for the soul is the very life of the human body, and the very life of the human body is inextricably linked with the blood of the body, since the blood of the body, the life of the body and the life of the soul are Biblical synonyms. That is why we can say that the Lord Jesus laid down His SOUL for us, and we can say that we shed His BLOOD for us.
Thus, our very redemption by the sacrifice of Christ in 1 John 3:16 is presented to us by the fact that the Lord Jesus laid down His very life-soul for us and thus redeemed us with His Blood. After all, it is in the blood that the soul-life of man: “But Christ, the High Priest of future good things, having come with a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is, not of such a construction, and not with the blood of goats and calves, but with HIS BLOOD, one day entered the sanctuary and obtained ETERNAL REDEMPTION" (Heb. 9:11,12).
That is why it is said: “HE (Christ) will look at the exploit of his soul with contentment; through the knowledge of Him He, the Righteous One, My Servant, will justify many and bear their sins” (Is. 53:11). It was by giving His Soul-life that the Lord redeemed us from eternal death.
So, the soul of a person is closely connected with the life of his own body, which is why the soul will be destroyed along with the body if the human body itself is destroyed. From this it follows that the soul of a person is mortal, like his body: “Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread; from the very first day you shall destroy leaven from your houses, for whoever eats leaven from the first day until the seventh day, THAT SOUL WILL BE DESTROYED from among Israel” (Exodus 12:15). That is, such a violator of God’s commandments will be killed by the Lord Himself.
Here are other places from Scripture where it is said that for certain violations of the commandments of God: “that soul shall be cut off from among his people” (Num. 9:13, Num. 15:30, Lev. 22:3, Lev. 19:8 , Lev.23:30). All this clearly testifies to us that the human soul is mortal, just as the human body itself is mortal, for the soul-life is connected with the very life of the human body.
CONFUSED TRUTH?
The question may arise: “Why is everything so confusing in the word of Scripture?”
Here is the answer to this question: “Many will be purified, made white, and refined [in temptation]; But the wicked will do wickedly, AND NONE OF THE WICKED WILL UNDERSTAND THIS, BUT THE WISE WILL UNDERSTAND” (Dan. 12:10).
There is a spiritual war taking place on this Earth. The supernatural God is also opposed by supernatural beings - evil angels- fallen sons of God. And just as in any war there is a certain military secret strategy that must be hidden from the enemy, otherwise the enemy will be fully prepared for the upcoming attack, in the same way in spiritual warfare all the actions of God are hidden from the opponents of God in order to keep the opponents of God in complete ignorance. After all, every descendant of Adam is a bearer of the nature of “sin”, in his physical body and by his very nature is an enemy of God.
Spiritual warfare is waged only through people and, as it were, chessboard, where behind the figures themselves are all those who control them. That is why, by hiding the truth from people who have not fully devoted themselves to God, the Lord makes them ignorant of the very word of Scripture. This spiritual darkness that reigns today in visible Christianity is already revealed even by ordinary, unbelieving people of this world.
For the knowledge of Scripture itself is closely connected with experienced spiritual life - according to the word of Scripture. Hence, anyone who does not live according to the word of Scripture is simply unable to understand the word of God, since he does not have spiritual experience, which makes the word of Scripture completely understandable. All this is connected with the reluctance of believers to fully devote themselves to God.
At the present moment in this spiritual war there is practically acting (in the name of all Three Personalities Deities and through believers - saints and faithful to God) only the Holy Spirit, Who is also the Spirit of Christ (1 Pet. 1:11). Christ Himself is one hundred percent expression of God the Father (John 14:9). That is why it is said: “..this is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel, expressing: not by might nor by power, but ONLY by My Spirit, says the Lord of hosts” (Zechariah 4:6) (Hebrew).
Consequently, spiritual warfare is waged ONLY by the Spirit of God and through people who are completely dedicated to God, who allow the Spirit of God to be released, so to speak, on the “chessboard” itself - through themselves - through “ chessmen" Thus, using a person who completely belongs to Him, the Spirit of God makes very “strange moves”, which are followed by the complete defeat of the enemy.
That is why all people unconsecrated to God, acting by nature (not consciously), can only help Satan, because acting according to the carnal mind, they act at the level of the natural human mind, which belongs to the nature of Satan accepted by man forbidden fruits from the tree of knowledge.
After all, every person is not completely consecrated to God, whether he wants it or not, but he lives in sin according to the flesh, and in such a state he simply cannot be used by God in this spiritual war, for his very thinking is in enmity with God. For living according to the flesh, we think according to the flesh, and such thoughts are hostile to God and everything spiritual.
That is why it is said: “For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. To be carnally minded is death, and to be spiritually minded is life and peace, because to be carnally minded is HOSTIMOUS AGAINST GOD; for they do not obey the law of God, and indeed cannot. Therefore those who live according to the flesh cannot please God” (Rom. 8:5-8).
This passage of Scripture is already explained by this text: “But the natural man DOES NOT ACCEPT the things of the Spirit of God, for they are MADNESS TO HIM; and he cannot know it, because it requires spiritual judgment” (1 Cor. 2:14) (Greek).
And here is a practical situation in which the above truth was realized. When Paul defended himself, setting out his story of salvation before the governor Porcius Festus, King Agrippa and Bernice, this is what happened: “When he (Paul) defended himself in this way, Festus said in a loud voice: You are crazy, Paul! great learning drives you to madness” (Acts 26:24). Governor Festus, being a natural, soulful man, considered what the Apostle Paul said to be madness, for for him ( natural man) spiritual truths were simply inaccessible.
That is why, in order to participate in spiritual war - on the side of God, it is necessary to completely deny your soul in order to arm yourself with spiritual weapons: “For while we walk in the flesh, we do not fight according to the flesh. After all, the weapons of our warriors are not carnal, but strong by God to the destruction of fortifications: we destroy arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, and we bring into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ” (2 Cor. 10:3-5) (Greek).
SPIRIT OR SOUL?
Now we will look at two more passages of Scripture: “And when her soul went out of her, for she was dying, she called his name Benoni...” (Gen. 35:18). And again: “And the Lord heard the voice of Elijah, and THE SOUL OF THIS BOY RETURNED TO HIM, and he lived” (1 Kings 17:22).
In the two above-mentioned texts of Scripture it is said that in one case the soul came out, and in the other the soul returned, and therefore we can believe that the soul has its own separate existence from the body: after all, the soul either leaves or returns.
A similar story of resurrection, when the soul of the deceased returned, is recorded in the Gospel of Luke: “While He (Jesus) was still saying this, someone came from the house of the ruler of the synagogue (Jairus) and said to him, “Your daughter is dead; don't bother the Teacher.
But Jesus, hearing this, said to him: Do not be afraid, just believe, and you will be saved. Having come to the house, he did not allow anyone to enter except Peter, John and James, and the girl’s father and mother. Everyone cried and sobbed for her. But He said: do not cry; she is not dead, but she is sleeping. And they laughed at Him, knowing that she had died. He, sending everyone out and taking her by the hand, exclaimed: maiden! stand up. And HER SPIRIT returned; She immediately stood up, and He ordered that they give her something to eat” (Luke 8:49-55).
In this case it has already been said: “And her spirit returned; she immediately arose,” while about the youth it is said: “and the soul of this youth returned to him, and he came to life” (1 Kings 17:22).
So the spirit or soul has returned?
First of all, the spirit-personality of Jairus’s daughter returned to her body, into which the spirit of life for the body also returned - from the Spirit of God, giving life to the body. It is possible that in this case all this happened almost simultaneously. As a result of the revival of the girl’s body by the SPIRIT OF LIVES, her soul also came to life. The youth also went through exactly the same process of resurrection, about whom it is said that “the soul of this youth returned to him, and he came to life.”
For in both cases, we are presented with the natural process of the resurrection of a dead person, because the Apostle Paul says about this resurrection of the youth (a similar thing happened with the prophet Elisha 2 Kings 4:16-37): “the women received their dead raised again” ( Heb.11:35) (Greek).
So, in all such cases, when the soul returned or the spirit of a person returned, it is said about the return of the spirit-personality of a person into his already dead body and about the revival of this already dead person by the spirit of lives.
In some cases, such a resurrection of the dead, our attention is focused on their soul, that is, only on the revival of the deceased that is visible to everyone. Therefore, when it is said “her soul came out of her,” it is said that at that moment the human body itself was left by the SPIRIT OF LIVES, which had previously life-giving his physical body. Also, when it is said: “the soul of this youth returned to him,” the Lord indicated to us that this is how the COMPLETE restoration of the life of the person who died before took place.
In other cases, we are shown the INTERNAL “mechanism” of the resurrection of a dead person with a detailed mention of all the spiritual processes occurring during the resurrection of a person. We could observe all this in the prophet Ezekiel.
All the above cases of resurrection of the dead recorded in holy scripture, are Biblical facts about the resurrection of the dead. The resurrection of a dead person will always take place in the same perfect Way of God. We have already examined this Path in detail above - in the prophet Ezekiel, where we were presented with the resurrection of an entire horde of dead people and the very sequence of God’s perfect actions in this process was shown. That is, this is how we are shown the very sequence of step-by-step steps of God’s perfect Path, following which God resurrects dead people (Ezek. 37: 7-10).
Therefore, when the word of Scripture speaks of the return of the soul to the body of a dead person, then this is what we are told about FULL recovery the entire three-part being of man: his spirit, soul and body, by the certain Path of God - the Path of resurrection.
I repeat that during the resurrection of a person, his spirit-personality returns, then his physical body is revived - by the BREATH OF LIVES of God. The human body thus revived comes into living contact with the human spirit. It is in this way that the human soul is completely restored and revived. Also, this process of resurrecting a person can almost simultaneously return both the spirit of a person and the breath of life to revive his body.
SOULS UNDER THE ALTAR
There is one more passage of Scripture that we will also look at: “And when He opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the SOULS OF THEM SLAUGHTER for the word of God and for the testimony which they had. And they cried out with a loud voice, saying: How long, O Lord, Holy and True, do you not judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth? And white robes were given to each of them, and they were told to rest for a little while longer, until their fellow servants and their brothers, who would be killed like them, would be completed the number” (Rev. 6:9-11).
To understand what is said in this passage of Scripture, we must first understand that the book of Revelation is a prophetic book, the prophecies of which are written in a special language - spiritual symbols. Therefore, here the altar is the Earth on which the Lord sacrificed Himself. Therefore, the souls under the altar are holy righteous people who are currently underground - in the Paradise of the underworld.
Here these righteous people are presented to us as “souls,” precisely because underground there are now a great many people-spirits, both righteous and sinners, who, having become spirits after their physical death, now reside in the underworld.
In the underworld there is Paradise and there are lower places for the punishment of sinners, where both believers who have not found the full salvation of God and sinners who have become unclean spirits for all eternity because of their sins already suffer. Therefore, calling the people killed for the word of God souls, which are at the moment spirits, the Spirit of God, through the Apostle John, indicated to us that we are talking here specifically about the saved holy righteous people awaiting the first resurrection of the dead, in which they will all find a new body, and with it the restoration of their souls.
That is why they are given white robes: “And white robes were given to each of them, and it was said to them that they should rest for a little while longer, until their fellow servants and their brothers, who would be killed like them, would complete the number” ( Rev.6:11).
White robes are given only to the saints and faithful of God, who have become so through faith, having thus acquired the complete salvation of their entire tripartite being - the salvation of their soul. After all, the white clothes given to the souls of those killed precisely in ADVANCE anticipate their resurrection in a physical body, which, having acquired, they will again find their soul.
That is, by calling these righteous souls, who are currently spirits, the Spirit of God thus pointed out to us certain people, from the entire mass of people-spirits of righteous and sinners who now reside in the underworld. That is, this is how we are pointed out only to the saved righteous people of the Old and New Testaments (New Testament wise virgins) who are now in the Paradise of the Underworld, who will all rise precisely at the first resurrection of the dead, having acquired new bodies, and with them the restoration of their souls.
That is why calling for the complete salvation of all believers living in Lately, on the eve of the second, obvious coming of Christ, the Spirit of the Lord speaks to all Christians of spiritual Laodicea like this: “I advise you to buy from Me gold purified by fire, so that you may be rich, and WHITE CLOTHES, so that you may be clothed and so that the shame of your nakedness and the eyes will not be visible. anoint your eyes with ointment, so that you can see” (Rev. 3:18).
Everything that is said above is necessary for us to know in order to understand the very process of God’s salvation of man. After all, the Lord Himself indicated that only one who listens and certainly understands the word of God that he hears becomes fruitful for God. For the very teaching of Christ has a precise application to the old manifestations of the natural soul. That is why it is necessary to understand both the structure of man and the teaching of Christ in order to apply the teaching of the Lord effectively - according to its purpose. That is, only HE who UNDERSTANDS the word of the teachings of Christ gains complete salvation and thus becomes one who does all the will of God.
Here is the testimony of Christ Himself about this: “Which good land which is sown, THIS IS THE WORD, WHO HEARS AND UNDERSTANDS, WHICH THEREFORE BEARS FRUIT, and makes one hundred, another sixty, and another thirty” (Matt. 13:23) (Greek). Amen.
ADDITIONS
CONSEQUENCES OF TRANSFORMATION IN THE DIVINE
A few more things need to be clarified. The transformation (transformation) that once occurred in the Divine shows us the internal structure of man and explains this structure itself. The Beginningless Deity now exists in Three Forms, Two of Which are new. But this does not mean that the Deity has acquired Two new Personalities.
The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of God and from eternity He was inseparable from God the Father, and He is the Spirit of Christ: “If anyone does not have the SPIRIT OF CHRIST, he is not His” (Rom. 8:9). Also, the Son of God dwelt inseparably in the Father: “No one has ever seen God; Only Begotten Son He who is in the bosom of the Father has revealed Him” (John 1:18). These passages of Scripture indicate the complete unity of the Divinity existing in Three Persons.
Here is the testimony of the Lord Himself on this matter: “Jesus said to him: I have been with you so long, and you do not know Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; how do you say, show us the Father?” (John 14:9).
The Son of God was always one with the Spirit of God: “Concerning this salvation belonged the searches and investigations of the prophets, who foretold the grace appointed for you, searching to which and at what time the SPIRIT of CHRIST which was in them pointed, when He foretold the sufferings of Christ and the glory that will follow.
It was revealed to them that it was not for themselves, but for us, that what was now preached to you by those who preached the gospel through the HOLY SPIRIT sent from heaven was served, into which the angels desire to penetrate” (1 Pet. 1:11,12). Here Peter attributes the workings of the New Testament Spirit of Christ to Old Testament, and the actions of the Old Testament Holy Spirit to the New Testament, indicating to us that this is the same Spirit of God.
Having undergone transformation (transformation), the Deity acquired Two new Forms, which have a beginning. Please note: not Two new Persons of the Godhead, but Two new Forms. Only the Form of God the Father remained without beginning. This is how the Divine Family was formed, where God the Father is the Father of this Family, where God the Holy Spirit is the Mother of this Divine Family, and God's Son- This is the Son of the same Family.
God acquired new Forms only in order to begin to create others like Himself. (Details in the article: “The Trinity of God - the nature of the Divine”).
Each of the Three Persons of the Godhead belongs to a certain sphere in God’s creation. Everything spiritual belongs to the sphere of the Father, and He is the Father of spirits: “Moreover, [if] we, being punished by our carnal parents, feared them, should we not much more submit to the FATHER OF SPIRITS in order to live?” (Heb. 12:9).
Everything spiritual belongs to the sphere of the Son of God. To the maternal sphere of the Holy Spirit belongs everything corporeal, everything material.
That is why the Son of God combines in Himself both the power of God the Father and the creative power of the Holy Spirit, thus being the Creator of all God’s creation. For He has in Himself all the fullness of the power of God the Father, and He also has in Himself the very creative power of the Holy Spirit - ruling in the material world, thus combining in Himself both the Father and the Holy Spirit, and thus being the Creator of all things.
All Three Persons of the Godhead are One in Their Divine Nature and in Their Desires and Purposes. And therefore, the Trinity of the Divine will always be reflected and expressed in each of Their Forms and in each sphere belonging to Them - spirit, soul and body. For example, if we consider the physical body of a person, it also consists of three main parts: bones (spirit), blood (soul) and flesh (body). And this also reflects the tripartite nature of the Divine.
Even in the human body, which belongs to the material sphere of the Holy Spirit, the bone will always represent the sphere belonging to God the Father - that is, the spirit (the main part of man), blood - the sphere of the Son, that is, the soul. Due to the fact that the spiritual sphere belongs to the Son of God, He shed His precious Blood in order to redeem and save the soul of man.
“For the soul (life) of every body [is] its blood, it is its soul; Therefore I said to the children of Israel, “You shall not eat blood from any body, for the SOUL OF EVERY BODY IS ITS BLOOD: whoever eats it will be destroyed” (Lev. 17:14), - here the blood is connected with the soul of the body, just like itself the soul is connected with the life of the body. That is, the soul here is life in a living body.
The flesh of the body, like the body itself, belongs to the sphere of the Holy Spirit, that is material world Therefore, the human body is the temple of the Holy Spirit: “Jesus answered and said to them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up. To this the Jews said: This temple took forty-six years to build, and will You raise it up in three days? AND HE SPEAK ABOUT THE TEMPLE OF HIS BODY” (John 2:19-21).
That is why the Lord took a rib from Adam and rebuilt it into Eve, this shows that the rib - the bone - belongs to the sphere of the Father - that is, to the spirit, and God the Father himself initially contained in His Form both the Holy Spirit and the Son of God. That is why the very bone of the body is, as it were, the “spirit of the body,” its main part, which contains all three parts of the body - spirit, body and soul (in that order), just like God the Father, before the transformation took place in him, contained within Himself both the Holy Spirit and the Son of God.
Therefore, by taking Adam’s rib, the Lord took not only part of his bone, but also part of Adam’s spirit. Therefore, the spirit of Eve is also part of the rebuilt spirit of Adam. And just as God the Father initially contained within Himself the Holy Spirit, so Adam’s bone initially contained both the spirit of Eve and the flesh of Eve, and therefore her soul. All this is obvious from the words of Adam, which he said when the Lord brought Eve to him: “And the man said: Behold, this is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she will be called woman, for she was taken from man (Gen. 2:23).
But the Lord took only a rib - Adam's bone. However, Adam says that Eve is also flesh of his flesh: “she is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh.” Consequently, the bone of Adam, figuratively depicting the spirit - the spiritual sphere of the Father, contained in itself the flesh of Adam (which is in the material sphere of the Holy Spirit), just as in the beginningless Form of God the Father the Personality of the Holy Spirit, who once acquired new Form- Form of the Holy Spirit.
Are such complex explanations necessary? - you say. They are simply necessary to find answers to critical issues- associated with eternity. Please note that I am talking about the Forms of the Divine, and not about Their eternal Divine Personalities. Since of the Three Forms of Deity only Two Forms have a beginning, then they (these Forms) also have an end. Only the beginningless Form of God the Father has no end. That is why the human spirit (relating to the eternal Form of the Father) is immortal, since it exactly copies the beginningless Form of God the Father, and this Form had no beginning, which means there will be no end.
On the contrary, the Form of the Holy Spirit (whose sphere is the body) and the Form of the Son of God (whose sphere is the soul) have a beginning, and therefore an end, that is, these Forms of the Divinity are finite. That is why both the human body and his soul are finite, that is, mortal and can be forever and completely destroyed.
Consequently, only the spirit of a person is immortal, because in order for a person’s body to become immortal, a person had to eat from the tree of life, which carries within itself the beginningless, eternal, spiritual Form of God the Father.
Only then would the human body, having become a spiritual, and therefore immortal body, make the human soul eternal, which would now be composed of two immortal parts - the eternal spirit and the eternal spiritual body. This is how man would become a son of God, and not just a created man created in the image and likeness of God. Indeed, in the genealogy of Christ, presented to us by the Evangelist Luke, Adam is not called the son of God, but of God: “Enos, Seth, Adam, God” (Luke 3:38).
So, having gained immortality for his body, through eating the fruits of the tree of life, a person would also gain the immortality of his soul and would become an eternal copy of God - in all His three Forms, that is, a person would become the son of God - an Angel.
The tree of life, through its fruits, distributes the eternal nature of God into human bodies, because the tree of life carries within itself the spiritual nature of the beginningless Form of God the Father. The spirit of every person also belongs to this beginningless Form, therefore those people who fall into the lake of fire will remain in it for all eternity, for their spirit is eternal, since it has the eternal nature of the Spirit of God the Father. Satan and the angels who supported him will go into the lake of fire in immortal bodies, souls and spirit, for they have the eternal nature of the sons of God.
Today many Christians think and say that God, Who is Love, will ultimately forgive all sinners. This is a terrible self-deception, since the word of God, which promises eternal punishment for sinners, cannot be violated, and the Lord Jesus Himself pointed out this fact: “Jesus answered them: Is it not written in your law: I said, you are gods? If He (God) called those to whom the word of God came gods, AND THE SCRIPTURE CANNOT BE BREAKED, do you say to Him whom the Father sanctified and sent into the world: You are blaspheming, because I said: I am the Son of God? (John 10:34-36).
So, in order to be saved with complete salvation, it is necessary to pray to God so that He does not yield to our natural soul, and also to reject it ourselves in everything that it does not like and in everything that is inherent in it by its nature, for only in this way will we save her God's, eternal salvation, and with her our entire tripartite being.
That is why God has a good offer for us today: “I call heaven and earth as witnesses before you today: I have offered you life and death, blessing and curse. Choose life, that you and your descendants may live” (Deut. 30:19). Amen.
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Maxim, before asking for answers - a preamble. :
I’m afraid to actually respond, because... on the one hand, I am glad to see many points of your presentation, on the other hand, it is perhaps premature to discuss the particulars of the issues raised, and one should spend money on discussing the method of communication in the same way as a worker spends on caring for a tool.
I will relate it to the purpose of writing reviews: when two people are talking, there is almost no point in expressing an opinion if it is known in advance that the interlocutor will not admit that he is wrong in any case.
But! I don’t know, but you are more well-read in patristic literature, so in this position, please answer the questions Yes or No. And only after a possible answer Yes - links to the object.
Questions:
1. Do you know any facts in the literature when one theologian (priest, pastor more high level, saint) admitted in a controversy that he was wrong in some thought?
2. Do you know of similar confessions by pastors to their flock about management errors?
Spirit, soul and body are components of a person, and often Christians confuse soulfulness and spirituality.
A Christian who does charity and smiles at everyone may be soulful, but he will go to hell if his essence is not filled with the breath of God. Soul and spirit have different natures and differences, but at the same time they are one.
What does soul mean in Orthodoxy?
The soul is the breath, the breath of God. The Creator created Adam and breathed a soul into him. (Genesis 2:7) The Creator created an incorporeal entity, He takes it away, which means it has immortality.
The soul component fills the human body into which God breathed it at conception
But where this essence ends up after separation from the body depends on the person. The prophet Ezekiel wrote that souls who sin die. (Ezekiel 18:2)
Without a soul, a person has neither reason nor feelings. The soul component is devoid of form; it fills the human body into which God breathed it at conception.
Origin of the Soul
The soul is created by the Creator; it does not reincarnate and does not move from body to body. She appears immediately after fertilization and after the death of the bodily shell awaits the Last Judgment.
For a long time it was believed that an incorporeal spiritual creature was weightless, however, in 1906, Professor Duncan McDougall, by weighing a person at the time of death, proved that the weight of the soul was 21 grams.
The soul, after the death of the bodily shell, awaits the Judgment of God
Basic components of the soul
The mind, will and feelings of a person depend on the state of the soul. It is very important to understand which mental forces are considered reasonable and unreasonable.
Higher powers control the rational components, these include:
- feeling;
- will.
Unreasonable forces fill the body with vital currents, thanks to which the heart beats, the body is transformed and the ability to produce offspring is born. Our mind does not control the irrational substance, everything happens by itself. The heart beats, the circulatory system works, a person grows, matures, and ages. All this does not depend on the human mind.
The spiritual gift of the Creator is that He fills us with feelings, emotions, desires, consciousness, gives us freedom of choice, control of conscience and fills us with the gifts of faith.
Important! Consciousness and conscience are the main components of a Christian’s soul, which distinguish him from an animal.
The mental component of the human body, unlike animals, has intelligent power, which is characterized by the ability to speak, think and know. The rational force dominates all other components, it is given the opportunity to distinguish good from evil; choose, show the strength of desires, whom to love or hate and control irritable force.
God fills us with feelings, emotions, desires, consciousness, gives us freedom of choice
People's emotions are produced and controlled by irritable force. Saint Basil the Great called this mental component a nerve that supplies energy, which sometimes results in passions:
- rage;
- jealousy of good and evil.
Desirable or active force gives birth to a will capable of choosing between good and evil.
Three forces are inherent in one life, one body and, according to Callistus and Ignatius Xanthopoula, they can be controlled. Love curbs irritable power, dispassion extinguishes emotions, and prayer inspires rational power.
Only in submission to spiritual knowledge and contemplation of the Almighty are all three spiritual components in unity. The soul is invisible, it lives regardless of the state of the body. State of mind people equalize everyone before God, who looks not at the body, but at His likeness, which does not depend on gender, age, skin color and place of residence.
According to Saint Theophan the Recluse, it is the spiritual essence that is the source of all human manifestations, it is a person with reason and freedom of choice, it cannot be known by the organs of the body.
How does the spirit affect a person?
The soul is the temple of the Living God, in which the Holy Spirit lives. The Creator did not grant such an honor to be called God's temple to any Angel.
At baptism, the spirit of God settles in a person, which during life can be supplanted by other forces. This is only possible if the person himself opens the doors of evil spirits, polluting his temple.
The spiritual component is the highest side of people's lives
Despite the fact that the Lord fills a person with the spiritual component, she independently chooses spiritual filling. This is freedom of choice. The Creator does not create robots, He sculpts others like Himself.
The spiritual component is the highest side of people’s lives; it is given the power to attract a person from visible things to the invisible knowledge of the grace of God, to separate the eternal from the temporary.
The spirit is that component of man that separates us from animals. The creatures created by God do not have spiritual filling.
The spiritual is inseparable from the spiritual; it is the highest side, the essence. A person does not have such feelings with which one can cognize spiritual fulfillment. The Holy Fathers emphasize that the spirit is the human mind, and from it comes the rational principle.
Important! The spirit of man cannot be seen or comprehended, but the spiritual man, filled with Divine essence, can be seen immediately by his emotions, deeds and love for the world around him.
The human spirit is filled with perfection only when united with God's Holy Spirit.
In the letter of St. Theophan the Recluse, we find that spiritual filling is the power that the Creator breathed into the human spiritual component, as the final stage of creating His image.
In union with the soul, the spirit raised it to a divine height above the non-human creature. Thanks to spiritual filling, a soulful person becomes spiritualized.
Since spiritual power came from God, it knows the Creator and seeks His presence in life.
Emerging Spirit Components
Whom a person worships and serves is his god. Christians, regardless of their level of development, know that everything in life is guided by the Creator.
Spiritual Filling Leads Christians to Hunger for God
He is the Judge and Savior, punisher and merciful; the symbol of the Christian faith is the Trinity, God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The fear of God is the main component of spiritual fulfillment.
You love power, money, fun parties, you do everything in anger, according to your own will and desire, which means you are not afraid of God, while your soul is controlled by satanic forces.
The guiding spiritual force is conscience, which makes a person fear the Lord, please Him in everything and follow His instructions. Conscience guides the spiritual qualities of Christians, directing them to the knowledge of holiness, grace and truth. Only through conscience can believers determine what is pleasing or contrary to the Lord.
Only those who have a living conscience can fulfill God's law. Spiritual fulfillment leads Christians to a thirst for God, when no creation of human hands can give that grace that a person acquires through communication with the Almighty in fasting, prayer and fulfillment of the Law.
About spiritual life:
The main differences between soul and spirit
In a person living in a fallen society and loving the Creator, there will be a constant struggle between the spiritual and the spiritual, for their unity is broken by human sinfulness.
The soulful component of God's creation makes him higher than animals, and the spiritual component makes him higher than angels. For which of the angels did the Lord ever say that they were His children? The Apostle Paul writes that human bodies- temples of the Living God, the Holy Spirit, and for this we must praise the Creator, there is no merit of ours. (1 Cor. 6:19-20).
Dove - a symbol of the Soul
Mental and spiritual forces should be considered in the unity of diversity, as St. Gregory the Theologian wrote about. The saint emphasized that in a Christian there is human and heavenly, visible and invisible, flesh and spirituality. Man, according to Gregory the Theologian, is a small universe within a large cosmos.
The sayings of Saint Gregory Palamas are wonderful that the body, having conquered the desires of the flesh, does not become an anchor for the soul, pulling it to hell. It soars upward in soul and spiritual unity, becoming God's spiritual power.
Anything created by God Living being has a soul, spiritual filling only in humans. The surrounding world can influence the spiritual components; the Lord guides spiritual forces.
The soul appears at conception, spiritual strength is given to a person upon repentance and acceptance of Jesus as his Savior, Healer, Creator and Maker. The soul's substance separates from the body at death; with the disappearance of God's spiritual principle, a person falls into all serious sins.
Important! Only a spiritual Christian can call Jesus Christ his Master, learn by reading God's word, soulful - only feels it.
Spiritual man is the image of God
The Lord can never be seen in the physical form. The Creator absolutely doesn’t care whether you are poor or rich, thin or fat, with arms or without legs, beautiful from a human point of view or ugly.
The image of God lives in an invisible spiritual shell, which is controlled by spiritual power. God's soul has immortality, intelligence, free will and pure, selfless love.
The state of mind that passes into immortality is controlled not by Christians, but only by the Lord.
Just as the Creator is free, so He gave freedom to His creation. The wise Creator endowed man with a mind capable of delving into invisible depths, cognizing the nature of the Lord. The Creator’s kindness to His creation is infinite, which He never abandons. Spiritual man strives for unity with the Creator.
In the New Testament, the phrase repeatedly appears about spiritually living people, that is, those who accepted Jesus into their lives as Savior.
Atheists or believers in other gods are called spiritually dead creatures.
Important! The Almighty, when creating man, provided for a hierarchy. The body submits to the soul, and it is subject to the spirit.
Initially this was the case. Adam heard God's voice with his spiritual consciousness, and hurried to fulfill all the wishes of the Creator with the help of his body. A spiritual person is like Adam before the Fall; he learned, with the help of the Lord, to do works pleasing to God, to distinguish between good and evil, creating in himself the image of the Creator.
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