Christian Growth II Spirit, Soul & Body CLICK TITLE FOR AUDIO

This is the second in a series on Christian Growth.  In this lesson, you will learn about your spirit, soul and body, which will help you to understand what happened to you the moment you were saved.

In Gen 1:26, God said, “Let us make man in our image…”  Then our God is made up of multiple persons and we are created with multiple parts to our being.  God is Father, Son and Holy Ghost [1 Jn 5:7].  We are Soul [matching the Father], Body [matching the Son] and Spirit [matching the Holy Spirit].  Notice all three of these parts listed in 1 Thes 5:23.

In Gen 2:7 God formed man of the dust of the earth [that’s his body] and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life [that’s his spirit] and man became a living soul [that’s his soul].  If God would have stopped with the dust Adam would have been a statue.  The breath of life is obviously connected with his spirit; when you have trouble breathing you have respiration problems [see that root word ‘spirit’ in there].

Now, in Gen 2:17, God warned Adam that he would die THE DAY that he ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.  Well, he and Eve ate in Gen 3:6, but they didn’t die physically that DAY; they died physically more that 800 years later [Gen 5:3-5].  So, what died that day?  According to Matt 10:28, it was his spirit that died.  The body of a sinner doesn’t die until he dies physically.  The soul of a sinner would have to be alive for it to die in hell.  So, his spirit is what dies when he sins.

Eph 2:1 shows you that every sinner was “dead in trespasses and sins” before he was saved.  That’s why he needs to be “born again.”  In Jn 3:3-7, your physical life comes from the birth of you flesh, which is your “water” birth.  A woman’s water breaks when she is ready to deliver her baby.  Your spiritual life comes from your spiritual birth by the Holy Spirit, when you receive Jesus Christ [Jn 1:12].

The moment you are saved, you are joined to the Lord’s body [currently seated by the right hand of the Father in heaven] by the Spirit of God.  You are baptized by the Spirit into the body of Christ [1 Cor 12:13-14, Eph 5:30-32].  And when you are baptized by the Spirit into the Lord’s body, you are also spiritually circumcised, meaning that the body of the sins of your flesh is cut away from your soul.  Therefore, when you sin after you’re saved, the sins affect your body but they cannot be imputed to your soul.

Nevertheless, we need to deal with our sins in the flesh and cleanse ourselves [2 Cor 7:1].  According to 1 Jn 1:7-9, our sins need to be confessed to God in order to maintain our fellowship with him.  Sin cannot damn your soul once you are saved but it can destroy your fellowship with God.  So, confess your sins and cleanse yourself from sin that you may keep in good fellowship with the Lord.