The Spiritual Man

[weishaupt1776]

This is a must for spiritual growth. Here are my notes thus far:

Notes from The Spiritual Man Vol. 1 Part 1 , Watchman Nee ; Christian Fellowship Publishers New York, 1968 ISBN 0-935008-39-x

Ch.1 Spirit, Soul & Body

Ch. 2 Spirit and Soul
Ch.3 The Fall of Man
Ch. 4 Salvation

Ch.1 Spirit, Soul & Body

I. The Creation of Man

II. Functions of the Spirit, Soul & Body

III. The Holy Temple & Man

Soulical - legitimate aspects of man’s mind, will, & emotions which the Creator originally intended from the very beginning for the soul to possess & manifest

Soulish - description of someone who is governed by their soulical part that their whole life takes on the expression of the soul

Man is treated as a three part being - spirit, soul, & body

I Thess 5:23 - we are wholly sanctified by our spirit, soul & body being kept

• 1Th 5:23**
  May the God of shalom himself sanctify you completely. May your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Yeshua the Messiah.

This verse clearly makes a distinction between spirit and soul

So this verse is clear that being WHOLLY sanctified is for one to have their spirit, soul, and body kept.

Failure to distinguish what is from one's soul or what is from one's spirit results in NOT knowing what is really in the spiritual realm, thus impeding spiritual growth.

Discerning what is spiritual & what is soulical requires them being divided by the Word in Hebrews 4:12. The Lord Jesus uses the Word of God on his people to separate thoroughly and to rightly divide & discern what is spiritual, soulical, & physical

• Hbr 4:12**
  For the word of God is living, and active, and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing even to the dividing of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and is able to discern the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

The Priests of old divided the sacrifice with a sword, so The Lord Yohoshuah Messiah divides us with his Word so that we might discern what is from our soul or spirit. This can only be accomplished if we are willing to get up on the altar to be sacrificed !

Failure to distinguish our soul from our spirit results in us not seeking what is spiritual because we attribute what is soulical as if it were spiritual and this results in the believer being in a soulish state

Pray for the Holy Spirit to help you discern your soul from your spirit & give you the desire to seek what is spiritual

I. The Creation of Man (p.23-26)

Gen 2:7 – “dust of the ground� refers to the creation of man’s body

• Gen 2:7**
  The LORD God formed man from the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.

The “breath of life� came from God & became man’s spirit when it entered man’s body. The spirit then is the principle of life in us according to

John 6:63:

• It is the spirit who gives life

In Gen 2:7 above, where it says that man BECAME a living soul indicates also that the spirit and body were merged in the soul

Ro 8:16/Job 33:4 - Our spirit & God’s Holy Spirit are different

• Job 33:4**
  The Spirit of God has made me, And the breath of Shaddai gives me life.

• Rom 8:16**
  The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God;

The original of the word life in “breath of life� is the word chay & is in the plural

God’s breath produced a twofold life ; soulical & spiritual

Man “became a living soul� when the spirit reacted with man’s body

God refers to humans as “souls� because of their distinction from purely spiritual beings

Man’s soul represents his individual characteristics of thought, ability to choose, and emotion so man depends on how his soul is

If a man’s soul wills to obey God, it will allow the spirit to rule over man as ordered by God

Spirit acts upon the soul, soul expresses itself through the body

Check out this analogy:

The Spirit will be Electricity, The Soul will be a Light Bulb, and the Body wil be the wire

Electricity causes light

Light is the effect of the electricity

Wire is the material substance arrying the Electricity manifesting the light

The Electricity & Wire combination produce light

The spirit will be the ruling power over our glorified bodies

• 1Cr 15:4
  It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body and there is also a spiritual body.

Being joined to the resurrected Lord gives our soul the access NOW in choosing to have our spirit rule over our whole being because we are joined to the last Adam who is a life giving spirit (v.45)

• 1Cr 15:45
  So also it is written, "The first man, Adam, became a living soul." The last Adam became a life-giving spirit.

[wirlwind]

I read that book about 25 years ago, and it was awesome. I still have it, and I probably could read it again. Another one that I read back then was the 3- Fold Secret of the Holy Spirit- can't remember who it was by though. It was great also. A very small book, but very good.

[weishaupt1776]

• Body - In contact with the material world & through it we have world-consciousness
• Soul - Reveals our personality as manifested through our mind, will, & emotions & through it we have self-consciousness
• Spirit – The means by which we commune with & worship God thereby obtaining God-consciousness
  
  God dwells in the spirit
  Self dwells in the soul
  Senses dwell in the body

The soul is linked to the spiritual world through the spirit & to the material world through the body

Since our ability to choose stems from our soul, it is able to respond to either the natural realm or spiritual realm

Therefore the spirit cannot directly subdue the body because it needs a medium

Only through the medium of the soul can the spirit get the body to obey God

The body through the soul can also get the spirit to love the world

Man's prime factor, therefore, is the soul(mind, will, emotions)

Luke 1:46-47 – The spirit conceives joy in God, communicates that to the soul, which causes an expression to the feeling by means of the body

• Luk 1:46**
  Miryam said, "My soul magnifies the Lord.
  
  Luk 1:47**
  My spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior,

The work of the soul is to get the body & spirit in proper order so that the body is subjected to the spirit & that the spirit may govern the body through the soul

The body is the outer shelter of the soul, while the soul is the outer sheath of the spirit

The spirit transmits it’s thoughts to the soul which exercises the body to obey the spirit’s order

The power of the soul is most substantial,since the spirit and body are merged there.

This makes the soul the site of man's personality and influence.

Before sin entered the world, the power of the soul was completely dominated by the spirit

In order for the spirit to govern, the soul must give its consent

Spirit - communicates w/the spiritual world
Body - communicates w/the natural world

Soul- discerns and decides whether or not to follow the spiritual or the natural (volition/will)

Only when the soul is willing to take a humble position, will the spirit ever manage the whole man

If soul rebels, then spirit is powerless to rule

This isthe meaning of the "free will of man"

Man’s ability to choose lies within the soul which can follow God’s will or rebel and follow Satan’s will instead

It is the will which determines whether the spirit, the body, or even itself is to rule.

Because the soul possesses such power & is the organ of man’s individuality, God calls man a “living soul�

[weishaupt1776]

The source scripture :

I Corinthians 3:16

• *
  Don't you know that you are a temple of God, and that God's Spirit lives in you?

As God formerly dwelt in the temple, the Holy Spirit indwells the believer today

The temple is divided into 3 parts :

1. The Outer Court
2. Holy Place
3. Holy of Holies

Man is a tripartite being composed of three distinct faculties:

1. Body
2. Soul
3. Spirit

1. The Outer Court was visible to all as the body is visible to all

2. The Holy Place only the priests could enter just like the soul is the inner soul of man (mind, will, emotions)

3. The Holy of Holies was where only God dwelt just like man's spirit is the deepest part of man in that it is

• beyond his Self Consciousness(soul) &
• above his sensibility (body)

1. Outer Court (body)

• 
  All external worship is offered there
• External position, with it's life visible to all
• Where man is supposed to obey every commandment, but cannot due to being born with sin
• Where Christ's BODY is sacrificed and serves as a substitute punishment for everyone's disobedience

2. Holy Place (soul)

• Where only the priests could enter to offer oil, incense, and bread to God
• They were near to God, but not the nearest
• They were outside the veil concealing the Holy of Holies therefore unable to stand before his very prescence
• All activities in the Holy Place(soul) are to be regulated and revealed by the prescence of God in the Holy of Holies
• Even though God, in the quietness and peace of the Holy of Holies, directed by revelation how the activities in the Holy Place were to occur;
  the priests still retained control over the activities in the Holy Place & outer court.
• Since the soul is composed of mind, will, and emotions, they are to be guided by one's spirit(holy of holies) as directed by God.
• So the believer's thoughts, feelings, and actions need to be fuly enlightened by God himself by means of the indwelling Holy Spirit in the Holy of Holies.
• Man as priest can either control activity of his soul & body according to the revelation from the indwelling Holy Spirit or by what he deems is right in his own eyes
• God prefers the latter, but still gives man the ability to choose through the faculty of the will

3. Holy of Holies

• Where God(Holy Spirit) dwells deepEST within
• Darkness of the Temple is overshadowed by brilliant light
• Where NO MAN can enter
• Priests could only enter in once a year
• Unless the curtain is rent, no man can enter
• The Secret Place of The Most High(Holy of Holies) cannot be reached by man unless God is willing to rend the veil
• The spirit(Holy of Holies, therefore lies beyond the sight(body/outer court) and intellect (soul/Holy place) of man
• Because of this, everything in man's spirit can only be carried on by faith, BEYOND the sight, sense or understanding of the believer

Remember 1Th 5:23**

• May the God of shalom himself sanctify you completely. May your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Yeshua the Messiah.

The proper order which God reveals is
First the spirit
Second the soul
Third the body

The spirit is seen as the pre-eminent part and mentioned first

The body is the lowest, therefore mentioned last

The soul (mind, will, emotions) stands in between, empowered with the choice whether to

obey the revelations of God through the agency of the Holy Spirit

OR obey the lusts of the body through the agency of inborn sin

Before Adam's fall(choosing the lusts of the body), the soul was governed by the spirit

God wishes for the believer to be governed by our spirits from the directions of the Holy Spirit through our souls to our bodies

[weishaupt1776]

I just found Volume 1 online.

We are still on part 1 but now in Chapter 2

Ch. 2 SPIRIT AND SOUL

I. Spirit
II. Soul
III. THE SOUL LIFE
IV. Soul AND MAN'S SELF

I. SPIRIT

If the believer does not discern his own spirit he invariably is ignorant of how to commune with God in the spirit. He easily substitutes the thoughts or emotions of the soul for the works of the spirit. Thus he confines himself to the outer realm, unable ever to reach the spiritual realm.

This spirit is not synonymous with our soul nor is it the same as the Holy Spirit. We worship God in this spirit.

The human spirit can be said to comprise three main functions.

1. conscience,
2. intuition and
3. communion.

Conscience

Conscience is the discerning organ, which distinguishes, right and wrong; not, however, through the influence of knowledge stored in the mind but rather by a spontaneous direct judgment. Often reasoning will justify things, which our conscience judges. The work of the conscience is independent and direct; it does not bend to outside opinion

Intuition

Intuition is the sensing organ of the human spirit. It is so diametrically different from physical sense and soulical sense that it is called intuition. Intuition involves a direct sensing independent of any outside influence. That knowledge which comes to us without any help from the mind, emotion or volition comes intuitively. We really "know" through our intuition; our mind merely helps us to "Understand." The revelations of God and all the movements of the Holy Spirit are known to the believer through his intuition.

A believer must therefore heed these two elements: the voice of conscience and the teaching of intuition.

Communion

Communion is worshiping God. The organs of the soul are incompetent to worship God. God is not apprehended by our thoughts, feelings or intentions, for He can only be known directly in our spirits. Our worship of God and God's communications with us are directly in the spirit. They take place in "the inner man," not in the soul or outward man.

Relationship between conscience and intuition

Conscience judges according to intuition; it condemns all conduct which does not follow the directions given by intuition

Relationship between Intuition and communion or worship

God is known by man intuitively and reveals His will to man in the intuition. No measure of expectation or deduction gives us the knowledge of God.

From the following three groups of Scripture verses it can readily be observed that our spirits possess

• The function of conscience (we do not say that the spirit is conscience),
• The function of intuition (or spiritual sense), and
• The function of, communion (or worship).

The Function of Conscience in Man's Spirit

"The Lord your God hardened his spirit" Deut. 2.30

"Saves the crushed in spirit" Ps. 34.18

"Put a new and right spirit within me" Ps. 51.10

"When Jesus had thus spoken, he was troubled in spirit" John 13.21

"His spirit was provoked within him as he saw that the city was full of
idols" Acts 17.16

"It is the Spirit himself bearing witness with our spirit that we are

children of God" Rom.8.16

"I am present in spirit, and as if present, I have already pronounced
judgment" 1 Cor. 5.3

"I had no rest in my spirit" 2 Cor. 2.13 AV

"For God did not give us the spirit of timidity" 2 Tim. 1.7

The Function of Intuition in Man's Spirit

"The spirit indeed is willing" Matt. 26.41

"Jesus perceiving in his spirit" Mark 2.8

"He sighed deeply in his spirit" Mark 8.12

"He was deeply moved in spirit" John 11.33

"Paul was pressed in the spirit" Acts 18.5 AV

"Being fervent in spirit" Acts 18.25

"I am going to Jerusalem, bound in the spirit" Acts 20.22

"What person knows a man's thoughts except the spirit of the man which

is in him" 1 Cor. 2.11

"They refreshed my spirit as well as yours" I Cor. 16.18

"His spirit was refreshed by you all" 2 Cor. 7.13 AV

The Function of Communion in Man's Spirit

"My spirit rejoices in God my Savior" Luke 1.47

"The true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth" John 4.23

Whom I serve with my spirit" Rom. 1.9

"We serve ... in the new life of the spirit" Rom. 7.6

"You have received the spirit of sonship when we cry Abba Father" Rom.8.15

"The Spirit himself bearing witness with our spirit" Rom. 8.16

"He who is united to the Lord becomes one spirit with him" I Cor. 6.17

"I will sing with the spirit" 1 Cor. 14.15

"If you bless with the spirit" I Cor. 14.16

"In the spirit he carried me away" Rev. 21.10

Although unregenerate men do not yet have life, they nevertheless possess these functions (but their worship is of evil spirits) - Some people manifest more of these functions while others less.

This does not however imply that they are not dead in sins and transgressions.

The New Testament does not consider those with a sensitive conscience, keen intuition or a spiritual tendency and interest to be saved individuals.

Prior to regeneration the spirit is separated from God's life; only afterwards does the life of God and of the Holy Spirit dwell in our spirits. They then have been quickened to be instruments of the Holy Spirit.

This spirit is not man's mind, his will or his emotion; on the contrary, it includes the functions of conscience, intuition and communion.

It is here in the spirit that God regenerates us, teaches us, and leads us into His rest.

But sad to say, due to long years of bondage to the soul many Christians know very little of their spirit. We ought to tremble before God, asking Him to teach us through experience what is spiritual and what is soulish.

The spirit has lost its primary function-towards God; for it is dead to God. It thus would appear that it has become an accessory to the soul. And as the mind, emotion and volition grow stronger, the functions of the spirit become so eclipsed as to render them almost unknown.

That is why there must be the work of dividing between soul and spirit after a believer is regenerated.

In searching the Scriptures it does seem that an unregenerated spirit functions no differently from the way the soul does. The following verses illustrate this.

"His spirit was troubled" Gen. 41.8

"Then their spirit was appeased toward him" Judges 8.3 (Darby)

"He that is hasty of spirit exalteth folly" Prov. 14.29 (Darby)

"A downcast spirit dries up the bones" Prov. 17.22

"Those who err in spirit" Is. 29.24

"And shall wail for anguish of spirit" Is. 65.14

"His spirit was hardened" Dan. 5.20

The works of the unregenerated spirit indicate how similar are its works to those of the soul.

The reason for not mentioning soul but spirit is to reveal what has occurred in the very depth of man. It discloses how man's spirit has become controlled and influenced completely by his soul with the result that it manifests the works of the soul.

The spirit nonetheless still exists because these works come from the spirit. Though ruled by the soul the spirit does not cease to be an organ.

[weishaupt1776]

We are still on part 1 Chapter 2 but now under the SOUL heading.

II. SOUL

Aside from having a spirit, which enables him to commune with God, man also possesses a soul, his self-consciousness. He is made conscious of his existence by the work of his soul. It is the seat of our personality. The elements, which make us human, belong to the soul. Intellect, thought, ideals, love, emotion, discernment, choice, decision, etc. are but various experiences of the soul.

Numerous instances occur in the original language of the Bible where "soul" is used instead of "Man.

Genesis 12.5 and Gen. 46.27 refers to people as "souls"

Man's existence, characteristics and life are all in the soul. The Bible consequently calls man "a soul."

That which constitutes man's personality are the three main faculties of

1. volition,
2. mind and
3. emotion.

Volition

• The instrument for our decisions, revealing our power to choose.
• expresses our willingness or unwillingness: "we will" or "we won't."
• Without it, man is reduced to an automaton.

Mind

,

• The instrument for our thoughts, manifests our intellectual power.
• Out of this arise wisdom, knowledge and reasoning.
• Lack of it makes a man foolish and dull.

Emotion.

• The instrument for our likes and dislikes
• Through it we are able to express love or hate and to feel joyful, angry, sad or happy.
• Any shortage of it will render man as insensitive as wood or stone.

A careful study of the Bible will yield the conclusion that these three primary faculties of personality belong to the soul.

A) The Souls Faculty of Volition

"Give me not up to the will (original, "soul") of my adversaries" Ps.27.12

"Thou dost not give him up to the will (original, ,soul,) of his enemies" Ps. 41.2

"Delivered you to the greed (original,"soul") of your enemies" Ezek.16.27

"You shall let her go where she will (original, "soul)" Deut. 21.14

"Aha, we have our heart's desire (original "soul")" Ps. 35.25

"Or swear an oath to bind himself (original,"soul") by a pledge" Num.30.2

"Now set your mind and heart (original, "soul") to seek the Lord your God" I Chron. 22.19

"They desire and lift up their soul to return to dwell there" Jer. 44.14 Amplified

"These afflictions my soul refuses to touch" Job 6.7 Amplified

"My soul chooseth strangling, death, rather than my bones" Job 7.15 Darby

The "will or "heart" here points to the human will. "Set the heart," "lift up their soul," "refuse" and "choose" are all exercises of the will, having their springs in the soul.

B) The Souls Faculty of Intellect or Mind

"Whereunto they lift up their soul, their sons and their daughters" Ezek. 24.25 Darby

"That a soul be without knowledge is not good' Prove 19.2 Darby

"How long must I bear pain (Syriac:Hebrew: hold counsels) in my soul?" Ps. 13.2

"Marvelous are thy works, and that my soul knoweth right well'Ps. 139.14 Darby

"My soul continually thinks of it" Lam. 3.20

"Knowledge will be pleasant to your soul Prov. 2. 10

"Keep sound wisdom and discretion . . . and they will be life for your soul" Prov. 3.21,22

"Know that wisdom is such to your soul Prov. 24.14

Here "knowledge," "counsel," "lift up," "think," etc., exist as the activities of man's intellect or mind, which the Bible indicates as emanating from the soul.

C) The Souls Faculty of Emotion

1) EMOTIONS OF AFFECTION

"The soul of Jonathan was knit to the soul of David, and Jonathan loved
him as his own soul 1 Sam. 18.1

"You whom my soul loves" Song 1.7

"My soul magnifies the Lord" Luke 1.46

"His life abhorreth bread, and his soul dainty food" Job 33.20 Darby

"Who are hated by David's soul 2 Sam. 5.8

"My soul was vexed with them" Zech. 11.8 Darby

"You shall love the Lord your God . . . with all your soul Deut. 6.5

"My soul is weary of my life" job 10: 1 Darby

"Their soul abhorreth all manner of food" Ps. 107:18 Darby

2) EMOTIONS OF DESIRE

"For whatever thy soul desireth ... or for whatever thy soul asketh of thee" Deut. 14.26 Darby

"What thy soul may say" 1 Sam. 20.4 Darby

"My soul longs, yea, faints for the courts of the Lord" Ps. 84.2

"Your soul's longing" Ezek. 24-21 Darby

"So longs my soul for thee, 0 God" Ps. 42.1

"My soul yearns for thee in the night" Is. 26.9

"My soul is well pleased" Matt. 12. IS

3) EMOTIONS OF FEELING AND SENSING

"A sword will pierce through your own soul also" Luke 2.35

"All the people were bitter in soul' I Sam. 30.6

"Her soul is bitter and vexed within her" 2 Kings 4.27 Amplified

"His soul was grieved for the misery of Israel" Judges 10. 16 Darby

"How long will ye vex my soul"Job 19.2 Darby

"My soul shall exult in my God" Is. 61.10

"Gladden the soul of thy servant" Ps. 86.4

"Their soul fainted within them" Ps. 107.5

"Why are you cast down, 0 my soul. 42.5

"Return, 0 my soul, to your rest" Ps. 116.7

"My soul is consumed with longing" Ps. 119.20

"Sweetness to the sour' Prov. 16.24

"Let your soul delight itself in fatness" Is. 55.2 Amplified

"My soul fainted within me" Jonah 2.7

"My soul is very sorrowful" Matt, 26.38

"Now is my soul troubled" John 12.27

"He was vexed in his righteous soul day after day" 2 Peter 2.8

We can discover in the above observations touching upon man's various emotions that our soul is capable of loving and hating, desiring and aspiring, feeling and sensing.

From this brief Biblical study it becomes quite obvious that the soul of man contains in it that part known as will, that part known as mind or intellect, and that part known as emotion.

...obey the revelations of God through the agency of the Holy Spirit

OR obey the lusts of the body through the agency of inborn sin

Why would we have been created with "inborn sin"... or be created with "lusts of the body"? That appears to assume that our Creator is responsible for our tendencies to experience lust or to engage in sin. That doesn't make sense... unless our bodies were created with the hormones responsible for "lust" for simple reasons of procreation and interpersonal bonding. People may become twisted and express "lust" in a destructive way because of life choices and negative influences that shape their personalities - especially during childhood... but I don't believe we were created by God to experience destructive urges and tendencies from the time we were first conceived.

And what about "inborn sin"? Do you believe that we were all created with basically sinful natures on purpose? I don't. I believe we were created absolutely innocent, with boundless potential for good or bad, depending upon our choices in life, and whether or not we remain in tune with our Creator's spiritual guidance and loving influence.

I AM ONE WITH LIFE

There is one God, and out of this oneness proceeds all that really is. Wonderful indeed is this conception of the union of all life which Jesus proclaimed: "I and my Father are one." All cause and all effect proceed from the invisible Spirit
Each person is one with this Spirit and cannot be separated from It. Our word has power because our word is the action of God through our thought. This power is; we use it, we do not have to create it. Let us seek to use the divine nature more generously with a greater idea of God's beneficence and abundance available to us.

- Ernest Holmes, The Science of Mind

[weishaupt1776]

Folks, please address Heidi's post in this thread here
http://forum.suijuris.net/showthread...9337#post39337

I want to keep a steady information stream concerning the concepts in this book.

I have reposted her reply there

[weishaupt1776]

We are still on part 1 Chapter 2 but now under the SOUL LIFE heading.

III. THE SOUL LIFE

Some Bible scholars point out to us that three different words are employed in the Greek to designate "life":

1. bios
2. psuche
3. zoe.

They all describe life but convey very different meanings.

Bio has reference to the means of life or living. Our Lord Jesus used this word when He commended the woman who cast into the temple treasury her whole living

Psuche refers to the animated life of man, his natural life or the life of the soul. The Bible employs this term when it describes the human life.

Zoe is the highest life, the life of the spirit. Whenever the Bible speaks of eternal life it uses this word

The words "soul' and "soul life" in the Bible are one and the same in the original. In the Old Testament the Hebrew word for "soul"-nephesh-is used equally for "soul life."

The New Testament consequently employs the Greek word psuche for both "soul" and "soul life."

Hence we know "soul" not only is one of the three elements of man but also is man's life, his natural life. In many places in the Bible, "soul" is translated as "life."

In many places in the Bible, "soul" is translated as "life."

"Only you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, its blood " Gen. 9.4,5

"The life of the flesh is in the blood" Lev. 17.11

"Those who sought the child's life are dead" Matt. 2.20

"Is it lawful on the sabbath-to save life or to destroy it?" Luke 6.9

"Who have risked their lives for the sake of our Lord Jesus Christ" Acts 15.26

"I do not account my life of any value" Acts 20.24

"To give his life as a ransom for many" Matt. 20.28

"The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep" John 10.11, 15,17

Soul life is

• man's natural life that which makes him exists and animates him.
• The power whereby man becomes what he is.

Since the Bible applies nephesh and psuche both to soul and to man's life, it is evident to us that these two, though distinguishable, are not separable

"Soul" and "life" in Luke 12.19-23 and Mark 3.4 are actually the same word in the original, yet to translate then, with the same word in English would be meaningless. They are inseparable, however, because these two are completely united in man. A man with out a soul does not live.

The Bible considers man's present body a "soulical body" (I Cor. 15.44 original), for the life of our present body is that of the soul.

Man's life is therefore simply an expression of the composite of his mental, emotional and volitional energies.

"Personality" in the natural realm embraces these different parts of the soul but only that much- Soul life is man's natural life.

That the soul is man's life is a most important fact to recognize for it bears greatly upon the kind of Christian we become, whether spiritual or soulish. This we shall explain further on.

[weishaupt1776]

We are still on part 1 Chapter 2 but now under the SOUL AND MAN'S SELF heading.

IV. SOUL AND MAN'S SELF

In Numbers 30, the phrase "bind himself" occurs ten times. In the original it is "bind his soul." From this we are led to understand that the soul is our own self. In many other passages of the Bible we find the word "soul" is translated as "self." For instance:

"You shall not defile yourselves with them" Lev. 11.43

"You shall not defile yourselves" Lev. 11.44

"For themselves and for their descendants" Esther 9.31

"You who tear yourself in your anger" Job 18.4

"He justified himself" Job 32.2

"But themselves go into captivity, Is. 46.2

"What every one (original, "every soul") must eat, that only may be
prepared by you" Ex. 12.16

"Who kills any person (original, "kill any soul") without intent" Num.35.11,15

"Let me (original, "let my soul,) die the death of the righteous" Num.23.10

"When any one (original, "any soul') brings a cereal offering" Lev. 2.1

"I have ... quieted myself" Ps. 131.2 AV

"Think not that in the king's palace you (original, "soul')will escape" Esther 4.13

"The Lord God has sworn by himself original, "sworn by his soul')" Amos 6.8

These Scriptures from the Old Testament inform us in various ways how the soul is man's own self. The soul is the site of our personality, the organ of volition and the natural life, we can easily conclude that this soul is also the "real I"--I myself

New Testament Passages

I Peter 3.20 - Souls" is the original rendering for "eight persons" Acts 27.37 - "two hundred and seventy-six persons"
Romans 2.9 - "every human being who does evil" is given in the original as "every soul of man that works evil."
James 5.20 - saving a soul is considered to be saving a sinner.
Luke 12-19 - treats the rich fool's speaking words of comfort to his soul as speaking to himself.
Matthew 16.26 - "For what will it profit a man, if he gains the whole world and forfeits his life (psuche)? Or what shall a man give in return for his life (psuche)?"
Luke 9.25 renders it: "For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits himself (eautov)?"

This signifies that the Holy Spirit is using Matthew to explain the meaning of "himself" in Luke and Luke the meaning of "life" in Matthew. Man's soul or life is the man himself, and vice versa.

Before regeneration whatever is included in life-be it self, life, strength, power, choice, thought, opinion, love, feeling-pertains to the soul. In other words, soul life is the life a man inherits at birth. All that this life possesses and all that it may become are in the realm of the soul.If we distinctly recognize what is soulical it will then be easier for us later on to recognize what is spiritual. It will be possible to divide the spiritual from the soulish. (Hebrews 4:12)