There are some in this world who would suggest that mankind is merely physical, and that there is nothing spiritual about him. This chain of passages will show what the Bible has to say on the topic.
2 Corinthians 4:16 (ESV)
So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day.
- Notice Paul talks about an “inward self” and an “outward self.” Right at the beginning of this study we see that man has a duality of existence. There are some who would say we are completely physical. This is not true according to this verse.
Genesis 1:26-27 (ESV)
Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.
- We are made in the image of God. From the opening chapters of the scriptures we see that mankind has an exhalted position and is superior to the rest of God’s creation.
- One of the greatest differences between man and animal is the presence of a conscience. While animals appear to have emotions, they do not have a sense of morality or immorality. An animal can steal, attack, and kill without feeling an ounce of remorse.
- It is also worth noting that it is not until after God creates man that he refers to His creation as “very good” in Gen 1:31. On every other day of creation, it is simply described as “good.”
Genesis 2:7 (ESV)
then the LORD God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature.
- God created man from the dust of the ground and gave him the “breath of life” just as He did with all of the animals. (Gen 2:19, 6:17, 7:15, 22).
- However, since man is created in the image of God with a dual nature, it must be the inward self that is the reflection of God’s image, not the outward fleshly part. Conscience, morality, and the pursuit of righteousness would be the reflections of God’s image, not the heart, lungs, liver, brain, etc.
- Paul confirms this concept in the next chain link:
1 Corinthians 2:11 (ESV)
For who knows a person’s thoughts except the spirit of that person, which is in him? So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God.
- Other people are not able to know our individual thoughts. Only we ourselves can know that.
- This is the scientific phenomenon that man has sought to find for millennia. Even with modern technology man is not able to map individual thoughts.
- Aspects mentioned earlier such as conscience, morality, intelligence, are separate from the fleshly physical body we possess.
- Again, this is what separates man from beast.
John 4:24 (ESV)
God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”
- God is a spirit. This is the image we are created in. If all we received from God was breath, then by logical deduction, God would simply be breath. Likewise with flesh, God would only be flesh, or the original material, dirt.
- However, in the fact that God is spirit, to be created in the image of God lends the understanding that we have a spirit as well.
Luke 24:36-39 (ESV)
As they were talking about these things, Jesus himself stood among them, and said to them, “Peace to you!” But they were startled and frightened and thought they saw a spirit. And he said to them, “Why are you troubled, and why do doubts arise in your hearts? See my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. Touch me, and see. For a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.”
- After Jesus’ resurrection, He appears to His disciples.
- Notice in verse 37 that the disciples thought they saw a spirit.
- Jesus says in verse 39 that a spirit does not have flesh and bone.
- Based on the last chain link (John 4:24), in that God is Spirit, this means that God also does not have flesh and bone.
Hebrews 12:9 (ESV)
Besides this, we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live?
- Here God is compared to our earthly fathers, how we respected them, and how much more we should respect our “Father of Spirits.”
- Our earthly fathers gave us our earthly flesh. Our Spiritual father gave us our spirit.
Daniel 7:15 (ESV)
“As for me, Daniel, my spirit within me was anxious, and the visions of my head alarmed me.
- Daniel also confirms the duality of man with the phrase, “my spirit within me…”
- Also notice that he is associating his visions in his head with his spirit.
Zechariah 12:1 (ESV)
The oracle of the word of the LORD concerning Israel: Thus declares the LORD, who stretched out the heavens and founded the earth and formed the spirit of man within him:
- Here is another confirmation that God created the universe, it did not simply happen from a “Big Bang.”
- God created the universe and God created the spirit of man “within him.”
Genesis 3:19 (ESV)
By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”
- The body will return;to the ground. The body was made from dust and to dust it will return.
- What happens to the spirit when the body dies?
James 2:26 (ESV)
For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead.
- There are a lot of logical conclusions that can be made from this single verse.
- James says the body without the spirit is dead.
- He does NOT say that the spirit without the body is dead.
- This means that physical death affects the body alone, not the spirit.
- James says that faith without works is dead.
- Anyone that claims “faith alone” must by logical conclusion also claim that man is “body alone.”
- These two concepts, the duality of man and faith requiring works, are so tightly interconnected and locked together in this verse that one cannot separate the first concept from the second.
- Are there any “faith alone” adherents that are ready to claim that they have no spirit?
2 Corinthians 12:3 (ESV)
And I know that this man was caught up into paradise—whether in the body or out of the body I do not know, God knows—
- Paul talks about an incident in his past. he doesn’t know himself if he was in his body or out of his body.
- This text demonstrates that man can exist outside of his physical body.
- This shows that both the body and spirit do not die together, or that both cease to exist.
- So the body dies and returns to the dust, what happens to the spirit?
Ecclesiastes 12:7 (ESV)
and the dust returns to the earth as it was, and the spirit returns to God who gave it.
- The body returns to dust.
- The spirit returns to God who gave it.
2 Corinthians 5:1-4 (ESV)
For we know that if the tent that is our earthly home is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this tent we groan, longing to put on our heavenly dwelling, if indeed by putting it on we may not be found naked. For while we are still in this tent, we groan, being burdened—not that we would be unclothed, but that we would be further clothed, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life.
- Paul speaks about his spirit living in an earthly body and a desire to move to a heavenly body.
- Verse 1
- This body is a temporary tent. Once it is destroyed we will have a permanent house built by God.
- Verse 2
- We groan in this physical body. Rom 8:23 says not only the creation groans, but we do as well while we wait for the redemption of our body and become an adopted child of God..
- Verse 3
- Putting on our heavenly body will fully clothe us (Rev 3:18), so that we will not be naked (having sin)
- Verse 4
- We are burdened in this body, not because we want to be naked (not because we want to die), but that eventually our physical death will be swallowed up by spiritual life.
Philippians 1:21-24 (ESV)
For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me. Yet which I shall choose I cannot tell. I am hard pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better. But to remain in the flesh is more necessary on your account.
- It is clear that Paul knows there is a difference between physical and spiritual, as he struggles to choose between the two. To remain physical is beneficial to the church at Philippi, but to die and be a spirit is to be with Christ.
2 Peter 1:13-14 (ESV)
I think it right, as long as I am in this body, to stir you up by way of reminder, since I know that the putting off of my body will be soon, as our Lord Jesus Christ made clear to me.
- Peter knows that he is physical and spiritual just as Paul does. This is a second apostle affirming this idea.
Matthew 10:28 (ESV)
And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.
- Notice the body can be killed and the soul still survive. They are not the same.
- It is also noteworthy that God is the only being that fits the second description, as most confuse it with Satan.
Matthew 16:24-27 (ESV)
Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul? For the Son of Man is going to come with his angels in the glory of his Father, and then he will repay each person according to what he has done.
- ◦ Jesus shows the true value of our soul. There is nothing that can outweigh the value of it. Nothing is more valuable than our soul, not even the entire world.
RIO VISTA CHURCH OF CHRIST 