FAITH: Spirit, Soul & Body (Part 2)
Mar 7th, 2008 by azdean
Let’s look at another verse in the discussion of “spirit, soul and body”:
Luke 2:40 And the child grew, and waxed strong in spirit, filled with wisdom: and the grace of God was upon him.
Is this saying that we need emulate Jesus and grow the distinct part of us that we call our “spirit”?
Well, I take the phrase “filled with wisdom” as a descriptive phrase explaining one way that Jesus grew “strong in spirit”. In other words, those two phrases are linked together, and they help us to select the appropriate definition of what is meant by the word “spirit”. If you look up the various definitions for the word “spirit”, you will find the definition that seems to fit this context best (from here):
2) the spirit, i.e. the vital principal by which the body is animated. A) the rational spirit, the power by which the human being feels, thinks, decides. B) the soul.
Now notice, that it wouldn’t have made sense to say Jesus “waxed strong in his soul, filled with wisdom”. This is because the (appropriate) definition for “soul” is (from here):
2) the soul. A) the seat of the feelings, desires, affections, aversions (our heart, soul etc.).
In other words, it doesn’t make sense to say Jesus “waxed strong in the seat of his feelings, filled with wisdom”. It does make sense though to say that Jesus “waxed strong in the power by which he thought and decided, filled with wisdom”.
The key here is not in a separation between Jesus’ soul and spirit. The key is where this vitality to think and decide wisely comes from! Clearly it comes from God, or that is, from the spiritual realm.
Now it is true. We hurt ourselves spending too much time getting our thoughts and wisdom from the natural world while neglecting the spirit side and what God will show us. But that does not mean that we have been living in our souls at the expense of living in our spirits. It means our hearts and minds have been captured by this world and not by God. But our hearts and minds can be captured by God. We can turn to Him with all we are and grow in the vitality by which we know and decide. We can turn to Him and be filled with wisdom.
The key is the direction on which we focus our hearts, not in which component of our nature we live in. It’s hard for me to picture Jesus living primarily in his spirit. Nor do I see Him somehow balancing the three components of His being either. No, I see Him knowing that God is where life, wisdom and understanding comes from, and thus focusing all parts of His being to receive of God’s wisdom.
But consider that what I detailed above is also why Jesus left the word “spirit” out of the command, “love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind”. One doesn’t love God with a “vital principal by which [we] are animated”. But we do love with the part of us that is the “seat of our feelings, desires and affections”.
The point is that these two Greek words are apples and oranges. One is talking about a thing that can grow inside of us. The other is a location inside of us where things flow out of. They are used in different ways and in different contexts.
Certainly we have a physical nature and a spiritual nature. Certainly we need to be open to God in the spiritual realm. But we don’t need to think that our heart, soul, strength or mind are incapable of connecting with God, and only our spirit can. No, all of us can connect with God. Every part of us.
Next, part 3…
