Body, soul, and spirit

“And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit^G4151 and soul^G5590 and body^G4983 be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (1Thess. 5:23).

 

G4151 pneuma From G4154; a current of air, that is, breath (blast) or a breeze; by analogy or figuratively a spirit, that is (human) the rational soul, (by implication) vital principle, mental disposition, etc., or (superhuman) an angel, daemon, or (divine) God, Christ’s spirit, the Holy spirit: -ghost, life, spirit (-ual, -ually), mind. Compare G5590.

 

G5590 psuchē From G5594; breath, that is, (by implication) spirit, abstractly or concretely (the animal sentient principle only; thus distinguished on the one hand from G4151, which is the rational immortal soul; and on the other from G2222, which is mere vitality, even of plants; these terms thus exactly correspond respectively to the Hebrew [H5315], [H7307] and [H2416]: -heart (+ -ily), life, mind, soul, + us, + you.

 

G2222 zōē From G2198; life (literally or figuratively): -life (-time). Compare G5590.

 

G4983 sōma From G4982; the body (as a sound whole), used in a very wide application, literally or figuratively: -bodily, body, slave.

 

G2307 thelēma From the prolonged form of G2309; a determination (properly the thing), that is, (actively) choice (specifically purpose, decree; abstractly volition) or (passively) inclination: -desire, pleasure, will.

 

Pneuma is our mind, thoughts (spirit), intellect. Psuchē is our heart and spring of action, our life, our soul (yearning).

 

Now the following statement has nothing to do with the immortality of the soul, which is a pagan and occult belief and wholly unbiblical; but for illustration I use the following comparison: Maybe we can say that the psuchē is the person that stays inside the person; and the pneuma is the person that leaves the person and affects others. We have a mind and a heart and a soul yearning (the psuchē) that leaves us and reaches out to others (the pneuma). The abundance of our mind and heart and soul is our psuchē. “Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh.” (Matt. 12:34). The mouth breathes out the ideas of our psuchē, and it creates our influence. This is our pneuma, “the spirit”, as the Bible so liberally uses the term.

 

And, we have a body. Our body is tangible, solid.

 

While our mind and emotions and yearnings are invisible inside our minds, and yet can be perceived over great distances through the avenues to the soul; nevertheless, our body spatially is comparatively small. Multitudes of strangers and friends alike can enter our mental and emotional sphere because those aspects of our being can be transmitted over great distances through sight and sound, video, and radio. But, only our closest associates and loved ones are allowed to enter our bodily zone of physical contact where normally only one of our senses—the sense of touch—is permitted.

 

Thus, we have two basic aspects of our being, the extended person—our being that creates our influence—and the local person—our being of a physical body. We are made in God’s image, and 1 Corinthians 2:11 together with Revelation 4:2,3 therefore say that God has the same two zones, or spheres. His Spirit reaches to the uttermost bounds of His creation; and they all sense Him and echo back their gratitude, which He hears. But, only very special people may enter His private, bodily zone. Revelation shows rings of privileged beings that were permitted into His tabernacle, and some into His very presence.

 

“Before the throne there was a sea of glass like unto crystal.” (Rev. 4:6). In biblical prophecy, water represents multitudes of intelligent creatures, here the angelic hosts. In this case, those hosts indicate perfect peace in their hearts with God.


“…and in the midst of the throne, and round about the throne, were four beasts full of eyes before and behind” (vs. 6). Then closer in to the throne of God’s presence were,  the four cherubim, or what I believe to be the heads of the hosts of heaven, hosts all of who were ever attentive to God’s desires and His communications, and ever returning praise the Father.

 

“And round about the throne were four and twenty seats: and upon the seats I saw four and twenty elders sitting, clothed in white raiment; and they had on their heads crowns of gold.” (Rev. 4:4).

 

These 24 elders in the throne room must be the literal heavenly counterpart to the 24 typical priests that David instituted to keep a continuous intercession year round. As David’s 24 chief priests ministered in the Son’s earthly sanctuary they typified the actual heavenly sanctuary of God the Father.

While the heavenly sanctuary was His Father’s Most Holy tabernacle, the earthly sanctuary was Christ’s holy habitation, as Malachi 3:1 and Zechariah 6:12,13 and John 2:16,19 foretell. The 24 elders surrounded the Father in a closer proximity than all the heads of the hosts, and their peaceful angelic sea.

 

“And out of the throne proceeded lightnings and thunderings and voices: and there were seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God.” (Rev. 4:5).

 

Closer still was the Son of God, seen as the eternally burning, omnipresent, visible source of the glorious Spirit of God, “for it pleased the Father that in Him should all fulness dwell.” (Col. 1:19, cf Rev. 5:6).  The earthly seven candlesticks and ever burning altar of incense that were in Christ’s earthly sanctuary represented Himself, who is the Light that lighteth every creature that came into existence, the true Light of the world.

 

After Christ’s exaltation before the hosts of heaven, He took Lucifer’s place as the only authorized voice of communication directly from God. He verbalized God’s thoughts. Even though Lucifer had held that post, he never heard God’s most intimate, deepest thoughts, yearnings, or will.

 

“By coming to dwell with us, Jesus was to reveal God both to men and to angels. He was the Word of God,—God’s thought made audible. In His prayer for His disciples He says, ‘I have declared unto them Thy name,’—’merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth,’—’that the love wherewith Thou hast loved Me may be in them, and I in them.’ But not alone for His earthborn children was this revelation given. Our little world is the lesson book of the universe. God’s wonderful purpose of grace, the mystery of redeeming love, is the theme into which ‘angels desire to look,’ and it will be their study throughout endless ages. Both the redeemed and the unfallen beings will find in the cross of Christ their science and their song. It will be seen that the glory shining in the face of Jesus is the glory of self-sacrificing love. In the light from Calvary it will be seen that the law of self-renouncing love is the law of life for earth and heaven; that the love which ‘seeketh not her own’ has its source in the heart of God; and that in the meek and lowly One is manifested the character of Him who dwelleth in the light which no man can approach unto.” Desire of Ages, p. 19.

 

Only the Son could satisfy His Father to the infinite degree, thus the Son alone could be the Father’s favored intercessor. Lucifer was a hired hand, and no more able to satisfy God’s deepest desires for the kingdom than Eliezer could satisfy the yearning in Abraham for an heir (see Genesis 15:6). But, Isaac could bring utmost joy to the heart of Abraham; and likewise could the Son to His Father’s heart. The Son was the seven Spirits out of whose mind and mouth God’s infinite thoughts of peace and acceptance could be shed forth to our sin-laden world, as seen in Revelation 5:6. Only the Son could be allowed to sit up close and personal with the self-Existent, the eternal One.

 

“All things are delivered unto Me of My Father: and no man knoweth the Son, but the Father; neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal Him.” (Matt. 11:27).

 

“For it pleased the Father that in Him [the Son] should all fulness dwell.” (Col. 1:19).

 

But, the whole kingdom knows the Father’s Spirit. Again speaking for His Father, Christ said,

 

“Am I a God at hand, saith the LORD, and not a God afar off? Can any hide himself in secret places that I shall not see him? saith the LORD. Do not I fill heaven and earth? saith the LORD.” (Jer. 23:23,24).

 

Christ in His earthly ministry had a sea of followers, as the Father had the same wheel within a wheel style relationships. A multitude followed Him, “about five thousand men, beside women and children.” (Matt. 14:21). But within the larger multitude was a smaller multitude, “above five hundred brethren” (1Cor. 15:6). Within that group was a small group, “the number of names together were about an hundred and twenty” (Acts 1:15), of “certain women, which had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities, Mary called Magdalene, out of whom went seven devils, and Joanna the wife of Chuza Herod’s steward, and Susanna, and many others, which ministered unto him of their substance” (Luke 8:2,3), “and Mary the mother of James, and other women that were with them” (Luke 24:10), “Cleopas” (Luke 24:18), and “James; then of all the apostles.” (1Cor. 15:7). Within that group Jesus “ordained twelve, that they should be with Him.” (Mark 3:14). But, within the twelve He had three, “Peter and the two sons of Zebedee.” (Matt. 26:37). And finally, of all that crowd He allowed into His innermost zone only John, the youngest, “the disciple whom Jesus loved.” (John 21:20). Yet, He walked alone in the earth and often retired to pray, for no one knew Him, and His needs and purposes, like His Father.

 

My Brazilian wife, Zeny, is very intelligent and loves to communicate. She is always communicating around the house, to me, to the animals, to the potted plants, even to the furniture and walls! And she does the same everywhere she goes. If she is standing in a line, she strikes up a conversation with the person in front of her. And—taboo of all taboos—even in elevators she starts talking! She hates to hear silence! If there’s a space of time to fill with a voice, she will fill it if no one else does! That’s why most people in our town know her. Even the policemen know her personally. She should run for mayor.

 

Zeny is a good example of our God in this respect. She is known far and wide. Her influence spreads out to great distances. And she likes it that way. She loves to be the center of a lot of attention! She even carries things on her head like she did as a child in Brazil, just to have someone stop and take her picture. She is a trip. And doesn’t God love to be at the center of all His children and His creation?

 

Yet, although Zeny lives at the center of her influence, simultaneously she is also out and about in the thoughts of the people. She is present in their memory; but, if they are up close and person they can hear her spirit, and they unite their spirit with hers. The spirit of Zeny is her. Zeny’s spirit is Zeny, and no one else. When people listen to the verbalizing of her mind, they don’t visualize a thought leaving her mouth. They see Zeny. When they remember her words, they visualize her. Maybe they give her a hug, or they shake her hand or hand her a gift. They don’t hand her spirit a gift or give her spirit a hug. Zeny’s thoughts, her mind are the person of Zeny, and the people give their love to her, not to her spirit.

 

Likewise, the “Spirit of your Father” (Matt. 10:20) is felt all the way to the distant-most inhabited world. From His throne our born-again heart can sense His Spirit—thus we sense God. “The love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us” (Rom. 5:5). We sense God through our Intercessor, who alone can intercede for us to the Father for not only our justification, but also for our sanctification. His presence is fullness of joy because He is our righteousness. By faith our spirit knows that we are at His right hand because He has injected His Spirit into our dead spirit, and has quickened it. And anyone who does not have “the Spirit of His Son” (Gal. 4:6) is not in Him, but is outside the kingdom of God.


“Ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any many have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His.... If the Spirit of Him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, He that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by His Spirit that dwelleth in you.” (Rom. 8:9,11).  Although He sits on His throne, and although we live light-years away, He is here also, because His Spirit reaches to Earth and to our hearts. And not to ours only but into immensity beyond. “Do not I fill heaven and earth? saith the LORD.” (Jer. 23:24). As the spirit of Zeny is Zeny, the Spirit of God is God. But, His Spirit is active and powerful and redemptive, and Zeny’s is not, except on a human, social level. However it  mysteriously happens with God’s Spirit, God knows our hearts and our situations, and answers our prayers. “Thou God seest me” (Gen. 16:13); Ishmael^H3458, [H3458 “God will hear” (Gen. 16:11)].

 

“But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love Him.

But God hath revealed them unto us by His Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God.

For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit^G4151 of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit^G4151 of God.

Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God.” (1Cor. 2:9-12).

 

This verse takes the image of God in man and explains, through our make-up, the Father’s person and how His Spirit functions. I have a mind, heart, and soul, which is my spirit^G4151; and God has the same, which is His Spirit^G4151.

From a distance, we can know the mind of God, which in the deepest, clearest form is only in Christ, to whom His Father “giveth not the Spirit by measure.” (John 3:34). “For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct Him? But we have the mind of Christ.” (1Cor. 2:16). This means that we have the exceedingly great privilege of being, in varying degrees, privy to the mind, heart, and soul of God, to the extent that “the Son will reveal him” (Matt. 11:27).

 

Yet, although we can partake of the Spirit of God through His Son, no one except Jesus can touch the body of God, or even look upon Him. That part of His person is off limits to the whole heavenly and earthly kingdom, except for His only begotten Son. And His Son remains very respectful. He keeps Himself as a servant-Son. He washes His feet. He touches His scepter as it is pointed toward Him. Jesus is love and He “doth not behave [Himself] unseemly” (1 Cor. 13:5). Christ is the example for the rest of the kingdom in this respect.

 

“Jesus, the divine Master, ever exalted the name of His heavenly Father. He taught His disciples to pray, ‘Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name.’ Matthew 6:9, A.R.V. And they were not to forget to acknowledge, ‘Thine is . . . the glory.’ Verse 13. So careful was the great Healer to direct attention from Himself to the Source of His power, that the wondering multitude, ‘when they saw the dumb to speak, the maimed to be whole, the lame to walk, and the blind to see,’ did not glorify Him, but ‘glorified the God of Israel.’ Matthew 15:31. In the wonderful prayer that Christ offered just before His crucifixion, He declared, ‘I have glorified Thee on the earth.’ ‘Glorify Thy Son,’ He pleaded, ‘that Thy Son also may glorify Thee.’ ‘O righteous Father, the world hath not known Thee: but I have known Thee, and these have known that Thou hast sent Me. And I have declared unto them Thy name, and will declare it: that the love wherewith Thou hast loved Me may be in them, and I in them.’ John 17:4, 1, 25, 26.” Prophets and Kings, p. 69.

 

“He made darkness His secret place; His pavilion round about Him were dark waters and thick clouds of the skies.” (Ps. 18:11).

“Clouds and darkness are round about Him: righteousness and judgment are the habitation of His throne.” (Ps. 97:2).

 

As only a few heavenly beings ever see the King, likewise, it was a singular occasion that any man, other than the prophets of Jehovah, saw the Son of God in His glorified, pre-incarnate person. On that occasion, the Lord God invited the leaders of Israel up to Mt. Sinai, to sit before the appearance of Him and His heavenly sea, but not to get any closer. “And they saw the God of Israel: and there was under His feet as it were a paved work of a sapphire stone, and as it were the body of heaven in His clearness. And upon the nobles of the children of Israel He laid not His hand: also they saw God, and did eat and drink.” (Ex. 24:10,11). On that one occasion He was representing His Most Holy Father sitting before the hosts of heaven and the sea of glass, from whom the angelic hosts must keep their distance, lest He cause their extinction.

 

“The matchless splendor of the earthly tabernacle reflected to human vision the glories of that heavenly temple where Christ our forerunner ministers for us before the throne of God. The abiding place of the King of kings, where thousand thousands minister unto Him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stand before Him (Daniel 7:10); that temple, filled with the glory of the eternal throne, where seraphim, its shining guardians, veil their faces in adoration, could find, in the most magnificent structure ever reared by human hands, but a faint reflection of its vastness and glory.” Great Controversy, p. 414.

 

When the Lord Jesus, the Lord God of Israel, said, “Am I a God at hand, saith the LORD, and not a God afar off?” (Jer. 23:23) He was saying that through His larger sphere He encompassed earth and the universe, even though His smaller personal zone was actually light-years away with His Father. This thought is confirmed by His appearance on Mount Sinai.

 

The human being was made in God’s image in order to more clearly teach the intelligent universe the mysteries of the hidden Godhead. We all have an influence; others live within our influence. Likewise, we exist within God’s realm. “For in Him we live, and move, and have our being.” (Acts 17:28). Yet, the unbelieving worldlings in that wonderful environment are disconnected from His spiritual power though they exist within Him. The condition of their unconverted spirits are at odds with His Spirit and Satan’s influence insulates them from His Spirit and causes their spirit and God’s to jar one another.

 

“For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.” (Gal. 5:17).

 

“For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit.

For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.

Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.

So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God.

But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His.

And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness.” (Rom. 8:5-10).

 

Living in our town, and knowing Zeny’s welcoming influence draws people to her. When they see her in a store or at the credit union they walk up to her and ask her if she remembers them, and they remind her of something she had done, or good advice she had given them that had helped them or their children. In the same way, living within God’s Spirit draws us to Him. Even His wonderful works of creation glow with messages of His Spirit of love, and leave us with the desire to know the Creator who must be infinitely wise and powerful and full of compassion for His human race.

 

When He can, God uses His Son to give the special dispensation of His Spirit beyond His forbearance—forgiveness of sin and justification. All who desire to be in one accord with God and His Law, and yearn to have complete restoration to the greatly offended Father, will be led to His condemnation of sin and to His Son’s special message of forgiveness and justification of life. Then His atmosphere of power can successfully work itself into them, sanctifying them body, soul, and spirit. His laws and His Spirit will find an answering chord in their spirit, and their physical, mental, and spiritual health will spring forth speedily. Our spirit will be alive “because of righteousness.” (Rom. 8:10). Through the Son, they will be reconciled to the big heart of God and to His “Spirit of life” (Rom. 8:2).