Genesis 1:26-27 (NIV)
26 Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”
27 So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.
But what does this mean? Do we physically look like God? I don’t think so, nobody has ever seen God and God is Spirit and therefore cannot be seen by the human eye. So, what does ‘being made in God’s image’ mean?
Let’s have a look at this extract that I have taken from the ‘Ancient Hebrew Research Center’ website and we will get a clearer picture of what is meant by being made in God’s image.
“Image (Strong's #6754)
The word image in Hebrew is צלם (tselem) and literally means, a shadow which is the outline or representation of the original.
Gen 1:27 And Elohiym, the Great Powerful One, filled the man with a representation of himself.
When we read "And God created man in his own image" our minds form a mental picture of what we look like and then attribute this picture to God himself. In the Hebrew’s mind it is not the appearance of something that they concentrate on but its function. This passage is not implying a picture of man or God but their function. Through the Hebrew words of this text, we see that God had placed within man a shadow or representation of his own function, - goal, purpose, thought, etc. It is our responsibility as born again Christians to live our lives as representatives of God, acting in the same manner as he would.”
So, from this we see that man was created to be a representation of God’s character here on earth. Which we were of course until our fall in the Garden of Eden at the instigation of Satan the destroyer! Then corruption and decay, because of sin, took its grisly hold of us and still clings to us to this very day.
Right, now that is cleared up let’s go back to looking at how we are created in our human form. Just as God, our creator, is three in one, Father, Son and Holy Spirit so man is created as three in one, spirit, soul and body.
Body
How did God create man’s body?
The body is the casing in which God houses our spirit and soul. It consists of our skin, skeleton, organs, blood, veins, arteries, and other such perishable things.
So here we have it, God formed man (Adam) from the earth of the ground, but he made woman (Eve) in a different way. He made woman (Eve) from Adam’s rib.
Now, in the above verse we are told that God made woman (Eve) from the rib of Adam. So as man was made from the earth and the woman was made from the man, she thus is made of the same stuff as man!
How God performed these two miracles of creation we aren’t told, but because God does not lie, we believe in faith that God’s Word is the truth! Without faith it is impossible to please God.
Now, what about the rest of mankind?
That is pretty easy, the rest of us, since Adam and Eve, are created from the sexual union between man and woman. Our bodies are therefor, all made from the same’ perishable stuff!
It is our bodies that are perishable and decay when we die – they return to the earth! But when Jesus returns our bodies will be renewed in the twinkling of an eye and our bodies will become a spiritual bodies - imperishable.
If a person is not born-again both body and soul will face hell:
Soul and Spirit
Now, how did our human soul and human spirit become encased in our body? Let’s have a look at Genesis 2:7 again.
Looking at the above verse, God formed the human body from the earth or the dust of the ground as some Bible versions translate it. But the body didn’t have any life in it until God breathed into it the breath of life.
In verse above the Hebrew word for Spirit is “ruach or ruwach” (pronounced roo-akh) and it speaks of wind or breath and even a violent exhalation or a blast, a picture of power and by resemblance, spirit. (ref. Strong’s H7307).
From this we can see that the breath God breathed into the body was of His Spirit. This is the Spirit that is in each and every human being and is known as the human spirit. It is our spirit that is reborn when we accept Jesus as our Lord and Saviour – we become born-again Christians. It is from this action too, the spirit of God in us, that we become a living soul – our soul is formed. It is the Spirit that gives us life.
So, our soul comes into being at the same time God places the human spirit within us. As I mentioned earlier, after Adam and Eve every person is born from a woman and, by a miracle of God, He places His spirit within us at the time of our conception in the womb, and at the same time our souls come into existence and we become living souls or beings.
The human soul is imperishable and like the human spirit it lives forever – it is eternal. It is the soul that will end up in heaven or in hell according to whether or not a person is born-again and our new bodies will be spiritual bodies. The human soul is that part of a person that is eternal—the part that lives on after the body dies and decays. It is the human soul that will face God’s judgement!
The soul is the area where man chooses to sin or not to sin – the area where man decides to believe in Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour or not to believe. It is where man’s freewill (the freedom to choose between good or evil) and decision making process resides.
When we die, the human spirit returns to God who gave it to us – the spirit is incorruptible it will always belong to God.
Some schools of Christian thought say that the human spirit and the human soul are one and the same thing, but it is my opinion that they are not – it is my opinion that they are separate entities. The below scriptures would confirm this.
Jesus himself because he was fully man also had a human soul. We know this from the anguish he experienced in Gethsemane before going to the cross. The difference between our Lord’s soul and ours is that he was born without sin because he was conceived through the Holy Spirit and His soul was completely submitted to the Spirit and so no sin was found in Him as he walked among us in human form. His will was completely submitted to the Father’s in the power of the Holy Spirit!
The human spirit is wholly God’s and because of this it returns to him when we die. Sin is not found in the human spirit but is found in the human soul which is where man’s freewill is found. The soulish desires of man are often referred to in the Bible as the ’flesh.’
When we die it is the human soul that awaits God’s judgement!
The born-again Christian is justified by his heart felt belief in Christ Jesus as Lord and Saviour. It is Jesus who intercedes for the believer when he sins. The non-believer does not have this privilege and stands condemned.
Judgement for the born-again believer – those who have repented of their sin and have accepted Jesus Christ as their Lord and Saviour – will receive eternal life in the presence of God:
Judgement for the unbeliever – those who refuse to repent of their sin and have rejected Jesus as their Lord and Saviour – will receive eternal damnation, eternal separation from God which is spiritual death. They will spend eternity in Hell!
When a person is born-again, he/she acknowledges his/her sin and repents of it - says sorry to God and asks His forgiveness and turns away from their sinful life and follows the path of righteousness in Christ Jesus.
At this point it is the human spirit that is renewed or born-again by the Holy Spirit, it is a spiritual awakening and we become new creations. The human spirit is then able to be energised and empowered by the Holy Spirit to overcome their sinful nature and walk a path of righteousness in Christ Jesus!
This is the start of a born-again Christians walk as a true believer in Christ Jesus and a follower of the Word (the Bible) and all its teachings.
But! And here’s the rub!
Although our human spirit is now renewed or born-again, we now have to submit our human soul (our ‘flesh’) to the leading of our renewed human spirit in the power of the Holy Spirit. This is not an overnight conversion and is a life-time process. It requires fully submitting our human will to the Father’s will day by day. This is called dying to self.
From here on the more and quicker we are in submission to the Father’s will and are obedient to the Word (Bible) the more quickly we will mature as Christians – this process and the speed of our transition is entirely up to us, nobody else can do it for us!
We can only successfully do this if we are living life in the spirit – we cannot do it in our own strength. We can only do this when our human spirit is fully partnered with the Holy Spirit, when we are continually being filled with the Holy Spirit and living live in the Spirit as Paul tell us in Romans 8 and in many other parts of his letters to the Church!
It is so important for each and every born-again believer to be baptised with the Holy Spirit and to keep on being filled with the Holy Spirit. It is only in this way that we can bring our human soul into full submission to the spirit that God has placed within us and which is energised and renewed by the Holy Spirit when we are born-again!
The human soul is where the Christian has a spiritual battle in bringing it under submission to the Spirit. It can be strong or weak depending on how well we respond to the teachings of the Bible and the guidance of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit will lead us in all truth and bring conviction to our souls when we step out of line. The Holy Spirit conviction is there so that we can be quick to repent and put things right in whatever we have done wrong! This is why Jesus sent him to us so that we can put to death the desires of the ‘flesh’.
Our human spirit enables us to be conscious of our actions, our thoughts and our inner workings. This why it is so important for human beings to be born-again in Christ Jesus and be filled with the Holy Spirit:
It is our spirit that enables God to search our hearts. Because the human spirit always belongs to God, He always knows the condition of our hearts. He always knows who is for Him and who is against Him no matter what words our mouths speak.
When Adam and Eve sinned in the garden of Eden, the human spirit became fatally flawed. While mankind did not physically die, they did die spiritually. Human spirits have been born under the shadow of the fall ever since, which is why salvation and renewal of the human spirit is necessary.
We are all spiritually dead before accepting Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour. We have all sinned and fall short of the glory of God!
The Spirit continually leads us on the path to eternal life; our job a born-again Christians is to "keep our souls in step with the Spirit.”
How did God create man’s body?
The body is the casing in which God houses our spirit and soul. It consists of our skin, skeleton, organs, blood, veins, arteries, and other such perishable things.
Genesis 2:7 (KJV)
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.
So here we have it, God formed man (Adam) from the earth of the ground, but he made woman (Eve) in a different way. He made woman (Eve) from Adam’s rib.
Genesis 2:21-22 (NIV)
21 So the Lord God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man’s ribs and then closed up the place with flesh. 22 Then the Lord God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man.
Now, in the above verse we are told that God made woman (Eve) from the rib of Adam. So as man was made from the earth and the woman was made from the man, she thus is made of the same stuff as man!
How God performed these two miracles of creation we aren’t told, but because God does not lie, we believe in faith that God’s Word is the truth! Without faith it is impossible to please God.
Now, what about the rest of mankind?
That is pretty easy, the rest of us, since Adam and Eve, are created from the sexual union between man and woman. Our bodies are therefor, all made from the same’ perishable stuff!
It is our bodies that are perishable and decay when we die – they return to the earth! But when Jesus returns our bodies will be renewed in the twinkling of an eye and our bodies will become a spiritual bodies - imperishable.
1 Corinthians 15:52-55 (NLT)
52 It will happen in a moment, in the blink of an eye, when the last trumpet is blown. For when the trumpet sounds, those who have died will be raised to live forever. And we who are living will also be transformed. 53 For our dying bodies must be transformed into bodies that will never die; our mortal bodies must be transformed into immortal bodies.
54 Then, when our dying bodies have been transformed into bodies that will never die, this Scripture will be fulfilled:
“Death is swallowed up in victory.
55 O death, where is your victory?
O death, where is your sting?”
Matthew 10:28 (NIV)
Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell.
Soul and Spirit
Now, how did our human soul and human spirit become encased in our body? Let’s have a look at Genesis 2:7 again.
Genesis 2:7 (KJV)
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.
Looking at the above verse, God formed the human body from the earth or the dust of the ground as some Bible versions translate it. But the body didn’t have any life in it until God breathed into it the breath of life.
In verse above the Hebrew word for Spirit is “ruach or ruwach” (pronounced roo-akh) and it speaks of wind or breath and even a violent exhalation or a blast, a picture of power and by resemblance, spirit. (ref. Strong’s H7307).
From this we can see that the breath God breathed into the body was of His Spirit. This is the Spirit that is in each and every human being and is known as the human spirit. It is our spirit that is reborn when we accept Jesus as our Lord and Saviour – we become born-again Christians. It is from this action too, the spirit of God in us, that we become a living soul – our soul is formed. It is the Spirit that gives us life.
John 6:63 (NIV)
The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you—they are full of the Spirit and life.
So, our soul comes into being at the same time God places the human spirit within us. As I mentioned earlier, after Adam and Eve every person is born from a woman and, by a miracle of God, He places His spirit within us at the time of our conception in the womb, and at the same time our souls come into existence and we become living souls or beings.
The human soul is imperishable and like the human spirit it lives forever – it is eternal. It is the soul that will end up in heaven or in hell according to whether or not a person is born-again and our new bodies will be spiritual bodies. The human soul is that part of a person that is eternal—the part that lives on after the body dies and decays. It is the human soul that will face God’s judgement!
The soul is the area where man chooses to sin or not to sin – the area where man decides to believe in Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour or not to believe. It is where man’s freewill (the freedom to choose between good or evil) and decision making process resides.
When we die, the human spirit returns to God who gave it to us – the spirit is incorruptible it will always belong to God.
Ecclesiastes 12:7 (AMP)
then the dust [out of which God made man’s body] will return to the earth as it was, and the spirit will return to God who gave it.
Some schools of Christian thought say that the human spirit and the human soul are one and the same thing, but it is my opinion that they are not – it is my opinion that they are separate entities. The below scriptures would confirm this.
1 Thessalonians 5:23 (NLT)
Now may the God of peace make you holy in every way, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless until our Lord Jesus Christ comes again.
Hebrews 4:12 (AMP)
For the word of God is living and active and full of power [making it operative, energizing, and effective]. It is sharper than any two-edged sword, penetrating as far as the division of the soul and spirit [the completeness of a person], and of both joints and marrow [the deepest parts of our nature], exposing and judging the very thoughts and intentions of the heart.
Matthew 10: 28 (NLT)
“Don’t be afraid of those who want to kill your body; they cannot touch your soul. Fear only God, who can destroy both soul and body in hell.
Jesus himself because he was fully man also had a human soul. We know this from the anguish he experienced in Gethsemane before going to the cross. The difference between our Lord’s soul and ours is that he was born without sin because he was conceived through the Holy Spirit and His soul was completely submitted to the Spirit and so no sin was found in Him as he walked among us in human form. His will was completely submitted to the Father’s in the power of the Holy Spirit!
Matthew 26:37-38 (NIV)
37 He took Peter and Zebedee’s two sons, James and John, and he became anguished and distressed. 38 He told them, “My soul is crushed with grief to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me.”
1 John 3:5 (NIV)
But you know that he appeared so that he might take away our sins. And in him is no sin.
1 Peter 2:22 (NIV)
“He committed no sin,
and no deceit was found in his mouth.”(Isiah 53:9]
The human spirit is wholly God’s and because of this it returns to him when we die. Sin is not found in the human spirit but is found in the human soul which is where man’s freewill is found. The soulish desires of man are often referred to in the Bible as the ’flesh.’
When we die it is the human soul that awaits God’s judgement!
The born-again Christian is justified by his heart felt belief in Christ Jesus as Lord and Saviour. It is Jesus who intercedes for the believer when he sins. The non-believer does not have this privilege and stands condemned.
1 John 2:1-2
My little children (believers, dear ones), I am writing you these things so that you will not sin and violate God’s law. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate [who will intercede for us] with the Father: Jesus Christ the righteous [the upright, the just One, who conforms to the Father’s will in every way—purpose, thought, and action]. 2 And He [that same Jesus] is the propitiation for our sins [the atoning sacrifice that holds back the wrath of God that would otherwise be directed at us because of our sinful nature—our worldliness, our lifestyle]; and not for ours alone, but also for [the sins of all believers throughout] the whole world.
Judgement for the born-again believer – those who have repented of their sin and have accepted Jesus Christ as their Lord and Saviour – will receive eternal life in the presence of God:
2 Corinthians 5:10 (NIV)
For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each of us may receive what is due us for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.
Judgement for the unbeliever – those who refuse to repent of their sin and have rejected Jesus as their Lord and Saviour – will receive eternal damnation, eternal separation from God which is spiritual death. They will spend eternity in Hell!
2 Thessalonians 1:8-9 (NIV)
8 He (Jesus) will punish those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. 9 They will be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might
When a person is born-again, he/she acknowledges his/her sin and repents of it - says sorry to God and asks His forgiveness and turns away from their sinful life and follows the path of righteousness in Christ Jesus.
At this point it is the human spirit that is renewed or born-again by the Holy Spirit, it is a spiritual awakening and we become new creations. The human spirit is then able to be energised and empowered by the Holy Spirit to overcome their sinful nature and walk a path of righteousness in Christ Jesus!
2 Corinthians 5:17 (AMP)
Therefore if anyone is in Christ [that is, grafted in, joined to Him by faith in Him as Savior], he is a new creature [reborn and renewed by the Holy Spirit]; the old things [the previous moral and spiritual condition] have passed away. Behold, new things have come [because spiritual awakening brings a new life].
This is the start of a born-again Christians walk as a true believer in Christ Jesus and a follower of the Word (the Bible) and all its teachings.
But! And here’s the rub!
Although our human spirit is now renewed or born-again, we now have to submit our human soul (our ‘flesh’) to the leading of our renewed human spirit in the power of the Holy Spirit. This is not an overnight conversion and is a life-time process. It requires fully submitting our human will to the Father’s will day by day. This is called dying to self.
From here on the more and quicker we are in submission to the Father’s will and are obedient to the Word (Bible) the more quickly we will mature as Christians – this process and the speed of our transition is entirely up to us, nobody else can do it for us!
We can only successfully do this if we are living life in the spirit – we cannot do it in our own strength. We can only do this when our human spirit is fully partnered with the Holy Spirit, when we are continually being filled with the Holy Spirit and living live in the Spirit as Paul tell us in Romans 8 and in many other parts of his letters to the Church!
It is so important for each and every born-again believer to be baptised with the Holy Spirit and to keep on being filled with the Holy Spirit. It is only in this way that we can bring our human soul into full submission to the spirit that God has placed within us and which is energised and renewed by the Holy Spirit when we are born-again!
Romans 8:1-2 (AMP)
Therefore there is now no condemnation [no guilty verdict, no punishment] for those who are in Christ Jesus [who believe in Him as personal Lord and Savior]. 2 For the law of the Spirit of life [which is] in Christ Jesus [the law of our new being] has set you free from the law of sin and of death.
The human soul is where the Christian has a spiritual battle in bringing it under submission to the Spirit. It can be strong or weak depending on how well we respond to the teachings of the Bible and the guidance of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit will lead us in all truth and bring conviction to our souls when we step out of line. The Holy Spirit conviction is there so that we can be quick to repent and put things right in whatever we have done wrong! This is why Jesus sent him to us so that we can put to death the desires of the ‘flesh’.
John 14:15-17 (AMP)
15 “If you [really] love Me, you will keep and obey My commandments.
16 And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper (Comforter, Advocate, Intercessor—Counselor, Strengthener, Standby), to be with you forever— 17 the Spirit of Truth, whom the world cannot receive [and take to its heart] because it does not see Him or know Him, but you know Him because He (the Holy Spirit) remains with you continually and will be in you.
Our human spirit enables us to be conscious of our actions, our thoughts and our inner workings. This why it is so important for human beings to be born-again in Christ Jesus and be filled with the Holy Spirit:
1 Corinthians 2:11 (NIV)
For who knows a person’s thoughts except their own spirit within them? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God.
It is our spirit that enables God to search our hearts. Because the human spirit always belongs to God, He always knows the condition of our hearts. He always knows who is for Him and who is against Him no matter what words our mouths speak.
Proverbs 20:27 (NLT)
The Lord’s light penetrates the human spirit,
exposing every hidden motive.
Matthew 7:21 (NIV)
“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.
When Adam and Eve sinned in the garden of Eden, the human spirit became fatally flawed. While mankind did not physically die, they did die spiritually. Human spirits have been born under the shadow of the fall ever since, which is why salvation and renewal of the human spirit is necessary.
We all need a Saviour – Jesus!
We are all spiritually dead before accepting Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour. We have all sinned and fall short of the glory of God!
Romans 3:23 (NIV)
for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
Isaiah 53:6 (NLT)
All of us, like sheep, have strayed away.
We have left God’s paths to follow our own.
Yet the Lord laid on him
the sins of us all.
2 Corinthians 4:16 (NLT)
That is why we never give up. Though our bodies are dying, our spirits are being renewed every day.
Romans 6:4 (AMP)
We have therefore been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory and power of the Father, we too might walk habitually in newness of life [abandoning our old ways].
The Spirit continually leads us on the path to eternal life; our job a born-again Christians is to "keep our souls in step with the Spirit.”
Galatians 5:25 (AMP)
25 If we [claim to] live by the [Holy] Spirit, we must also walk by the Spirit [with personal integrity, godly character, and moral courage—our conduct empowered by the Holy Spirit]. 26 We must not become conceited, challenging or provoking one another, envying one another.
John 3:3 (AMP)
Jesus answered him, “I assure you and most solemnly say to you, unless a person is born again [reborn from above—spiritually transformed, renewed, sanctified], he cannot [ever] see and experience the kingdom of God.”
If you have never given your life to Jesus and you know you are not a born-again Christian, and after reading this blog you feel like you need give your life to Jesus and ask him into your life to be your Lord and Saviour, please pray the following prayer.
Dear Lord Jesus
I confess before you now that I am a sinner and ask that you come into my heart right now to be my Lord and Saviour. I repent of my sins and ask for your forgiveness for all the sinful things I have done. I thank you that you died on the cross for my sins. I pray too that from now on you would fill me with your Holy Spirit and help me to lead a righteous life. Help me Lord to become the person that you created me to be and help me each day to be more and more conformed to your image. Amen.
If you have prayed this prayer then let me offer you my congratulations, you are now a born-again Christian. I would encourage you to start reading the Bible, the Book of John is a good place to start, every day. Join a local fellowship that preaches the Bible and faith in Christ Jesus alone and nothing else, and begin a life of service to Christ Jesus. Share your new faith with others as soon and as often as you can!
To Jesus belongs all glory, honour and praise!
Jesus the Name above all names!
Remember: Reading this article is no substitute for you reading and studying the Bible for yourself. My words are fallible, the Word of God (The Bible) is not!
God bless you brother Ray, thank you for keep on sharing wisdom,
ReplyDeletemight the Lord bless you and your family, your wife Jaci
Thank you dear sister Sandra, God bless you!
DeleteGreat study my dear friend. Loved it and I am fully aligned with your reasoning in light of the Scriptures. May Our Lord bless you with wisdom and guide you through everything you do. Blessings. Wanderson
ReplyDeleteThank you Wanderson. God bless you!
ReplyDelete