SOULS AND SPIRITS IN THE NEW TESTAMENT |
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First of all a summary ...
In the previous pages this subject was examined in the Old Testament. There it became clear that life is given to us, it is not innate to us. |
God is life.
God is the Creator
We receive His gifts.
We receive His gift of life.
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| We do not have life within ourselves, making us as gods too, although this is what Satan promised Adam and Eve. Satan’s lie is still found today – in religion, in comedy, in drama, in philosophy, and many other fields. By contrast let us hear God speak, |
‘Thus saith God the Lord, He that created the heavens and stretched them out; He that spread forth the earth, and that which cometh out of it; He that giveth breath unto the people upon it and spirit to them that walk therein, I the Lord have called thee…’ Isaiah 42:5.
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| Spirit here means breath - |
When we have ‘breath’ we are living beings.
When we have ‘spirit’ we are living beings.
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| Our life here is a gift to us. Immortal life later is also a gift. |
The gift of God is eternal life. Romans 6:23
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| Both of these gifts are conditional through God. |
- We would not have been born unless God had bestowed life upon us at our conception.
- We do not receive eternal life unless we live as God has instructed us in His Ten Commandments.
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Immortality is conditional on what we do in our probationary time. Our life here is given as a probation to see if we will obey God.
Souls and spirits in the New Testament.
This section of the booklet will continue looking at what the Bible says about souls and spirits, but this time in the New Testament, using the King James Bible, also called the Authorised Version.
First of all, remember again the Bible principles: |
- The Bible formula for a human being is
body (flesh) + spirit (breath) = soul (living being).
- In the Bible ‘soul’ and ‘spirit’ refer to different things. They are never identified with one another to mean the same thing.
- A human being is an integer, a single unit. We do not have within us separate entities, even very small ones, that can live independently of each other if one part dies. It used to be believed that our soul was so minute that 10,000 of them could dance on the point of a needle!
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Following from these, here is something to think about.
What does it mean when we love God with our body, soul and spirit? It means that we love Him with our whole self, our whole being; that there is nothing of us that does not love and honour |
