The human body is a miracle of ingenuity. From our DNA and our microbiome to our voluntary and involuntary actions, everything about us testifies of an intelligent designer.
However, there is much more to a person than just their physical body. We were made in the image of God. Many people believe that refers to our shape.
But God is a triune being consisting of a body (Jesus Christ), a soul (God the Father), and a spirit (Holy Ghost).
God can't be considered a God of love if He only loves Himself. There has to be someone else to love or else what you have is a narcissist.
I John 5:7- For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one.
John 1:14- And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.
Matthew 28:19- Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:
When God said, "Let us make man in our image", He was speaking of creating a triune being like himself.
Every human alive has a body (no one can really object to that fact), a soul (that which is our true self), and a spirit (the life giving portion). The body and soul are absolutely unique to the individual. The spirit, however, is something that passes from person to person at conception.
- Soma (σῶμα): Body
- Psyche (ψυχή): Soul
- Pneuma (πνεῦμα): Spirit
The human body shows the signs of sin. Each day, as we grow older, our decisions leave an indelible mark on our body. The curse of sin is that our body will one day die.
Romans 5:12- Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:
No one knows how much time they will have on the earth in their body. For some, death is the end of the body. For others, death is just a pause.
When an unsaved person dies, their soul and spirit leave their body, never again to be joined together. They are considered dead. But, when a saved person dies, their soul is just waiting for the resurrection of the body when they will be joined together again in a glorified, eternal body. They are considered sleeping.
I Thessalonians 4:13-14- But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.
The body, however, was not the first part of man to feel the curse of sin. It was the spirit that died instantly when Adam sinned.
Ephesians 2:1- And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins;
Those who are unsaved will lose their spirit at death. This spirit will go back to God because it was His breath that gave you life.
Genesis 2:7- And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.
Job 33:4- The Spirit of God hath made me, and the breath of the Almighty hath given me life.
Our spirit is different than that of animals. They have life, but it wasn't given by the breath of God.
Ecclesiastes 3:21- Who knoweth the spirit of man that goeth upward, and the spirit of the beast that goeth downward to the earth?
But, there is a further difference in the spirit of an unsaved man and the spirit of a saved man. The man who has asked Jesus Christ to forgive him of his sins and pay their sin debt with the blood that He shed on Calvary has an awakened spirit.
The verse above in Ephsians says that He quickened you when you were saved. He put the Holy Spirit inside of you, sealing you with a part of Him.
Ephesians 1:13- In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise,
What was the promise? That He would raise your body up as an incorruptible, eternal dwelling place for your soul, also known as the day of redemption, when your soul and body are rejoined.
Ephesians 4:30- And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.
There are some who would argue that the soul and the spirit are the same thing, but the Scriptures differentiate between the two.
Hebrews 4:12- For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
The spirit is where intuition and instinct come from. The soul is sometimes referred to as the mind. It is where your decisions and choices are made. It's the place where love and hate are determined.
As previously stated, the soul is the eternal part of you. That which shall live forever somewhere.
The Scriptures give a small look at how that worked under the Old Testament laws. Christ told the story of the rich man and Lazarus. This is not a parable. Parables didn't name people. This was a true story that Christ was telling to impress people about two things- the afterlife and that the risen Savior would be rejected by some men.
Luke 16:19-31- There was a certain rich man, which was clothed in purple and fine linen, and fared sumptuously every day: And there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, which was laid at his gate, full of sores, And desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man's table: moreover the dogs came and licked his sores. And it came to pass, that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom: the rich man also died, and was buried; And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom. And he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame. But Abraham said, Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things: but now he is comforted, and thou art tormented. And beside all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed: so that they which would pass from hence to you cannot; neither can they pass to us, that would come from thence. Then he said, I pray thee therefore, father, that thou wouldest send him to my father's house: For I have five brethren; that he may testify unto them, lest they also come into this place of torment. Abraham saith unto him, They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them. And he said, Nay, father Abraham: but if one went unto them from the dead, they will repent. And he said unto him, If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead.
First, notice that the state of the body doesn't indicate the status of the soul. The rich man was not rich because he was a good person, nor was Lazarus a beggar because he was evil.
The soul can go to two places- hell or heaven.
In this story, we can see that the soul has the ability to speak, hear, see, feel, and also has fingers and a tongue. If you could actually see a soul, it would look just like your body.
Now, let's look at the end of a man's life. The body dies and is buried. That body slowly decays until it becomes dust. That is the end of an unsaved man's body forever.
Genesis 3:19- In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.
Only a saved person's body will ever be recreated into a new body. And that will only happen at the rapture.
Philippians 3:21- Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself.
When your last breath is breathed, both the spirit and the soul leave the body. The spirit goes back to heaven with God. The soul goes either to heaven of hell, depending upon what decision the person made while they were alive regarding whether to accept Christ's payment for their sins or to reject Him.
A saved man's soul goes straight to heaven to be with God where he will be judged according to his works after salvation. This is where he will hear whether he will be rewarded during the millennium or not.
II Corinthians 5:6-8- Therefore we are always confident, knowing that, whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord: (For we walk by faith, not by sight:) We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.
The unsaved man's soul goes to hell. But that's not the end for him; he will get his day in court.
Revelation 20:13- And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works.
The unsaved man's soul will stand before God and be judged. He will see every good decision and every bad decision. He will see exactly where and how many times he was offered a chance to accept Christ as his Savior and where he rejected Him.
Romans 2:16- In the day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to my gospel.
Matthew 12:37- For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned.
Then he will be cast into the Lake of Fire, Outer darkness.
Revelation 20:15- And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.
The lake of fire is where Satan and his devils will spend their eternity. And, he has this one comfort, that he was able to condemn so many for whom the Lord Jesus Christ paid the price.
Revelation 20:10- And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.
When God calls out Satan, He sometimes calls him out as the men through whom he worked. In this passage below, God is calling the devil by the name of Pharaoh.
Ezekiel 32:27-31- And they shall not lie with the mighty that are fallen of the uncircumcised, which are gone down to hell with their weapons of war: and they have laid their swords under their heads, but their iniquities shall be upon their bones, though they were the terror of the mighty in the land of the living. Yea, thou shalt be broken in the midst of the uncircumcised, and shalt lie with them that are slain with the sword. There is Edom, her kings, and all her princes, which with their might are laid by them that were slain by the sword: they shall lie with the uncircumcised, and with them that go down to the pit. There be the princes of the north, all of them, and all the Zidonians, which are gone down with the slain; with their terror they are ashamed of their might; and they lie uncircumcised with them that be slain by the sword, and bear their shame with them that go down to the pit. Pharaoh shall see them, and shall be comforted over all his multitude, even Pharaoh and all his army slain by the sword, saith the Lord GOD.
Satan is going to think himself a winner because he was able to take so many to the eternal fires of separation from God.
But, there is one more thing that will happen to an unsaved man's soul. They have already lost the triune image of God, but they will lose their human form and convert to the form of the devil.
Matthew 9:48- Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched.
Satan's cursed form is that of a snake.
Genesis 3:14- And the LORD God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life:
The unsaved man's soul will take on the image of the one they chose to follow.
That's why Christ asked in Mark 8:36- For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?
What about you, dear reader? What is your soul worth? Have you consciously made a decision about where the eternal part of you will go after your body dies?
Your default position is damnation. No decision leaves your soul on the path to hell.
Matthew 27:22a- Pilate saith unto them, What shall I do then with Jesus which is called Christ?
Pilate asked the Jews this question, and they got the wrong answer. Now, I put this question to you. What will you do with the offer of salvation for your soul?
Jesus already paid the price. All you have to do is accept it.
I Thessalonians 5:23- And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
