[God’s Words] are life to those who find them
and health to one’s whole body
Summary: Understanding what real life is, is the key to understanding the Bible. Real life is being alive to God. Real living is walking hand-in-hand with God.
The Bible is sixty-six little books in one. Some of these “books” were actual books in their own right before the Bible, as we know it, was compiled. Others, especially in the New Testament, are letters. Some of these are very short. What ties these writings together is God. He inspired them, authored them, and compiled them for us exactly as he wanted them to be.
The order of the writings in the Bible is significant. It is a book that covers all of human history and tells us what God has in store for us in the future. The first book, Genesis, provides us with an introduction to the human condition. It is a kind of pre-history. Genesis 3, in particular, explains why we struggle with this condition called “sin.”
Regardless of whether you see the Genesis story as a literal history or a parable of our beginnings, the underlying facts are accurate. Because Adam and Eve ate from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, we now can see evil. Because they rejected God’s instruction, they “died” spiritually. Before disobeying (“sinning”) they walked and talked with God in total peace and comfort. After disobeying, their spirits were dead to God, and they were afraid and ashamed.
Spiritually dead people who can see evil choose to do evil things. It is not that we are trying to be evil; it is that we cannot tell the difference between right and wrong without God. So, many of the choices we make are self-destructive or hurtful to others.
The entire Old Testament, the first two-thirds of the Bible, is God explaining to mankind the difference between right and wrong. Mankind struggles to understand. Then, we fail. Again, and again, and again.
In the first chapter of Genesis, we read that God created something “very good” (Genesis 1:31). Then Satan comes along and, like the bully on the beach, kicks sand in God’s face and tramples his creation. God’s response is to send his Son, Jesus.
The New Testament is the story of God fixing things. Where the Old Testament gives life by instructing people how to live godly lives, the New Testament tells us about God’s Son, Jesus. Jesus is the embodiment of God’s Word. He takes our sin (our shortcomings, rebellion, and the bad we have done) on his shoulders so that we can be restored to a relationship with our Creator. In Jesus, we become like Adam and Eve were in the Garden of Eden.
If our spirit is sick, the body will never be truly healthy. If we accept Jesus as Lord, our spirit is healed. When that happens, it is much easier to “pay attention” (Proverbs 4:20) to what God is telling us in his Word.
We live in a sinful and broken world. More than that, we live in broken bodies that crave sin. The Good News is that as our spirit is healed, we are led into healthier ways of living. God himself puts his Spirit in us to teach and guide us.
God’s Word is Jesus (John 1: 1-5). Jesus is “life to those who find them and health to one’s whole body.”
Application: Give yourself a spiritual check-up. How “alive” are you?
Food for Thought: How are spiritual health and physical health connected?
We are holistic beings. While, especially as Americans, we like to compartmentalize our lives, it really does not work that way. 1 Thessalonians 5: 23 – 24 is a prayer asking that our entire spirit, soul and body be kept blameless until Jesus comes for us. If I do not submit my body to Christ and take up unhealthy patterns of eating, smoking, drinking, it will affect my spiritual life. If I damage my body, my soul and spirit are impacted and vice versa.
While 1 Timothy 4: 8 tells us the godliness has more value than physical exercise, it does not say physical exercise has no value. Decisions we make and submitting to the Lord in every area of our life has consequences that affect the whole person.
Thank you, Rich.
It is interesting to think about the connection between the physical and the spiritual. Another way to look at it is to turn it around. What are the differences between our spiritual life and our physical? Is there any way that one is independent of the other?
Is there any way one is independent of the other? I feel like you are making a point, but I am not sure what it is? Or maybe you are just asking a question. If you are making a point, maybe you can help me out by saying what it is?
Rich,
Please see my response to “A” below. I have combined your question with theirs.
02-27-2022, Proverbs 4:22, How are spiritual health and physical health connected?
They are both the creation of God.
The actions of our body are an outward view of an inner reality.
The body is the power controlling our actions at birth.
The health of both is effected by what we put into them.
The power of our body must decrease if our spirits are to receive life and grow in Christ.
If we choose to live ruled by the desires of our flesh, we will experience both physical and spiritual death. But as we choose to live by the Spirit, put to death the power of the body, we will live eternally in new bodies. We do this by presenting our bodies as a living sacrifice, choosing to deny the desires of our flesh as we seek to live holy and acceptable by the power of God, which is our spiritual worship of God.
Romans 8:13, Romans 12:1
Ron,
Great point! There are four elements in your answer: Me, my flesh, my spirit, and God’s Spirit.
Living according to the desires of the flesh and the fears of the human spirit is a rather awful fate. Living according to God’s Spirit is really living! 🙂
What is the quote?
Something like: you don’t have a soul, you are a soul?
Hebrews 4:12
Can we really divide soul, spirit, body?? Or is that something only God can do?
A —
The quote you reference sounds like it has an interesting history. I have inserted a link here if you want to read the article I found.
As to Hebrews 4:12 the context seems to suggest that God’s Word is alive and knows every part of our innermost being. I do not see any suggestion that it is intended as instruction on the meanings of soul and spirit. The original text is Greek, so the contextual reference on the meaning of the words is historically linked to the Greek concept of soul and spirit at the time Hebrews was written.
I guess I do not understand what you are saying here. Perhaps you can help?
Jeff,
Just that we can’t separate them. The description of the word of God, how impossibly ‘sharp’ it is… to make that clear the author, by the Spirit, uses the picture of the unity of soul and spirit to show how only God’s word can reach that spot that divides them.
Written in Greek or Hebrew…. It’s a Biblical view that they are so intertwined that we can’t find where they separate. Congruent with R’s statement we try to define unified terms by separating them.
If you want a solely Hebrew perspective, then a word study on the word soul or nefesh (phonetic spelling I believe see Deut. 6) would be more helpful. It means soul, self, life, creature, living person, emotion, passion, desire, breathing, inner being of man, activity of mind, will, and character. Basically, it encompasses so much of all you do and are and what sustains you that, again, it cannot separate be separate from you.
Although, I do not know passages that picture this well, because it seems to be an already understood concept that didn’t need explanation (or as thorough of one as makes me feel confident). Either that or exhorting people who are neglecting one side of this idea and need a reminder to keep up both. Or I’m not as familiar with scripture as I would like (okay, it’s most likely the third one)
As far as the quote, thank you for attaching the link I did not know it’s roots. I have only heard the bit I wrote and had understood it to be helping us reconnect the concept of the soul being us not a different entity. Just as the ending quote says “You are a body. But you’re a soul too. And your human flourishing is contingent upon being a soul-bodied thing.” -Matthew Lee Anderson. (I assume that was included for the sake of everyone like me, to replace our misuse of the former)
It is sad that that was not the original intent of the statement I attempted to share.
Eventually, I will learn to communicate. Thanks for encouraging me to develop my thoughts Jeff. My brain is getting quite the workout!
Rich & A —
First, thank you for engaging in today’s today’s question about the spiritual and the physical. I appreciate the discussion.
Second, as I mentioned in an earlier post, my goal here is to develop a greater mutual understanding of God’s Word. That means I am not staking out a position and defending it. I am merely sharing the view from where I stand. That means I respect and honor your views as well.
Third, any discussion about spiritual things is a discussion about intangibles. That means that there is nothing any of us can point to and say, “See – this is what I am talking about.” To have a meaningful discussion on spiritual issues, we have to find meaningful definitions for intangible concepts. This brings me to …
My fourth caveat: I am going to be speaking in rather general terms. “Soul,” “spirit,” “heart,” etc. all are referred to in the Bible. However, I am not proposing that there is a definitive delineation between these concepts. There may be overlap. They may be used interchangeably in some cases. We are talking about things we cannot see or touch, so that makes it difficult.
Okay … all of that said, I will share my “point.”
To restate the question I am hearing here: Can we separate the physical and the spiritual?
A’s position is “that we can’t separate them.”
Rich’s position is that we cannot compartmentalize our lives.
My position is something like this:
I agree we cannot separate them in the sense that we isolate one from the other.
I agree we cannot compartmentalize the same way, isolating one from the other.
However, there are differences and I think it is important to recognize those differences so that we can better understand how they relate and affect each other.
Very briefly, my thinking goes like this:
1. The body and spirit are separate because (A) when the body dies, the spirit continues.
2. The physical body is constantly changing. It is my understanding from medical sources that every cell in our body is replaced once every seven years on average. Physically speaking, your body is not the same body it was seven years ago.
3. If a person undergoes an amputation, their body is diminished, but their spirit is not. i.e. – their perception of who they are remains whole.
I believe that there are parts of our existence that are strictly tied to our physical existence. For example, our need for food is a physical need. Will a spiritual body need food in the same way? It might need spiritual food (e.g. – God’s presence) but it will not “need” physical food.
The sins of the “flesh” are derived from physical cravings; hunger, pain, procreation.
There are another set of sins that flow from the “heart.” (Here we get into that invisible realm.)
These might include self-centeredness, pride, jealousy, envy, hate, etc.
This is what I think of as the spiritual realm and battlefield. The Bible tells us that we died spiritually and that we have to be reborn spiritually. (Genesis 3, John 3) If we do not see a separation between spirit and flesh, then these teachings probably make no sense.
As far as today’s FFT question: Spiritual health is important because it impacts what we do and how our body functions.
Without God’s peace, our body suffers from the trauma of fear and/or anger. (Both have debilitating physical consequences.)
If we ignore God’s spiritual teachings, we tend to make unhealthy choices that can result in physical consequences.
I could go on …
As I said above, I hope that these comments are constructive and help us move toward a mutual understanding. My post for Monday, “Heart Attack” deals with some of this as well.
Blessings!
Thank you brother. I do believe there is an important difference between the body (soma) and the flesh (sarx). The flesh is not necessarily the same as the body. We were created for a body by the Lord. We will always have a body of some kind. Even before our permanent glorified body we still have some sort of temporal body in paradise (for example: Revelation 7: 9). The body is not evil as God does not make evil things. Sin is evil. And that is a spiritual problem of the flesh. That is why we are called to walk in the Spirit and not the flesh. We may be talking in circles here. I am not sure there is any disagreement. Just trying to clarify what I am saying.
Interesting! Another division to consider. (Body & flesh) 🙂
It is all good, Rich. I can talk in circles with the best of them. 🙂
Me too. Sometimes I don’t know how others can understand me because I am not sure I understand myself 😊
As long as you understand that you are all loved.
Thank you, Tim! 🙂