The Human Spirit

Aside from being a descriptor that alludes to attributes that differentiate us from other living creatures, and perhaps differentiate us from each other, what do you think the human spirit is?

@FMF

Indomitable.

@moonbus said
@FMF

Indomitable.

If we find a way to bottle it, this is what we shall put on the label.

Man is of three parts according to First Thessalonians 5:23

The human spirit
The human soul
The human body

Three parts.

The sanctification process by which Christ separates us unto His own nature through permeation and saturation and dispensing is intended by God to reach all three parts of man's being.

"And the God of peace Himself sanctify you wholly, and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved complete, without blame, at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ." (1 Thess. 5;23)

WHOLLY is the whole being of the human person. And the whole being includes the innermost human spirit, the outer human soul, and the outermost human body.

The human soul we are very aware of. It is not too hard for most thinking people to recognize that they have a human soul.

The human body we are also very aware of. It is not too hard for most thinking people to admit that they have a human body.

Awareness of the human spirit is not that easy. The unregenerated woman or man may be conscious that there is SOMETHING missing. That is that there should be another dimension to their life which is not there. This is awareness of the PLACE the human spirit has yet without knowing its functioning.

When one receives the Lord Jesus into their heart, the human spirit is healed or enlivened from its unfunctioning and comatose state in a new birth.

Because of the justification of Christ, Christ Himself as righteousness allows the human spirit to be made divine life instantaneously upon receiving Jesus.

The comatose and nearly dead human spirit comes to life by being joined to God the Holy Spirit. "He who is joined to the Lord is one spirit" (1 Cor. 6:17)

"But if Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, the [human] spirit is life because of righteousness." (Rom 8:10)

Because righteousness is imparted to you, the human spirit is ENLIVENED and becomes divine LIFE - the spirit is life because of righteousness.

This being made alive in the human spirit is also being born of the Spirit within the human spirit of John 3.

"That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, You must be born anew." (John 3:6,7)

I believe the Recovery Version has the intent translated properly. The Holy Spirit causes the human spirit to be born again, born anew -

"That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the [capital S] Spirit is [small s] spirit."


The innermost part of man's being, the human spirit comes out of its comatose and deadened condition to be BORN of the Third Person of the Triune God - the Spirit. The human spirit is divine life because of Christ as righteousness. And the human spirit is reborn, born again, born anew, and born of the Spirit.

@FMF

... what do you think the human spirit is?

The human spirit is something in man very CLOSE to God Himself. It is something God placed in man which is very close to what God is.

In the creation of man God breathed into man's nostrils the breath of life, and the human spirit was formed as the innermost part of man.

"Jehovah God formed man out of the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life and man became a living soul." (Genesis 2:7)

The body was formed of the elements from the dust of the ground.
God breathed into man something we are only told is called "the breath of life". And the result of the breath of life joining the body caused Adam to become "a living soul".

The spirit of man, I believe, was brought about by the "breath of God" being breathed into man's un-alive yet physical body formed from the dust of the earth. When the breath of life touched or contacted the body the immediate result was the creation of the entire man - spirit and soul and body (1 Thess. 5:23).

Man became a living soul.

We may also think of man as three levels - the highest level, the second highest level, and the third highest level.

The spirit of man was designed to be the highest part of man.
Beneath that the soul of man was to be submissive to the higher spirit of man.
Beneath both the spirit and the soul, the body of man is the crucial yet lower part of man.

God cares for the TOTAL human being. So His salvation is for all three parts - the highest, the second to the highest, and the lowest. ALL parts are important to the total make up of what it is to be a human being.

The sin of Adam and Eve caused the human spirit in all the descendants of the first parents to be damaged, made comatose, deadened, impaired in function. So since the fall of Adam and Eve man comes into the world with an entire dimension of his created being impaired.

@sonship said
Man is of three parts according to First Thessalonians 5:23

The human spirit
The human soul
The human body

Three parts.

Personally speaking, not seeing "First Thessalonians" as an authority on human consciousness, I'd say "The human spirit" and "The human soul" are one in the same ~ it's just a matter of doctrine/vocabulary to separate them ~ and I'd also say that neither [and/or 'it'] survives the demise of "The human body".

sonship, thanks for your four posts.

As a matter of interest, do you endorse or subscribe to any definition of "the human spirit" that does not make reference to "Jesus" and that might, therefore, be applicable to the majority of the human beings who don't believe in or follow him?

@fmf said
Aside from being a descriptor that alludes to attributes that differentiate us from other living creatures, and perhaps differentiate us from each other, what do you think the human spirit is?

Spirit is intangible. It is not apprehended by the physical senses, so therefore spirit is incomprehensible to the natural mind.

@fmf said
Aside from being a descriptor that alludes to attributes that differentiate us from other living creatures, and perhaps differentiate us from each other, what do you think the human spirit is?

Spirit can refer to a liquid as in Gin for example, a character trait and in "she has a spirited nature" or it can refer to a paranormal entity such as a ghost.

Outside of the former and the later examples I don't see any significance for the use of "spirit" in the secular; although I can see why it applied as an adjective, would it be? as in my example above.

@secondson said
Spirit is intangible. It is not apprehended by the physical senses, so therefore spirit is incomprehensible to the natural mind.

Fair enough. You are of course speaking for yourself and your own inability to comprehend things. If "the human spirit" is actually, in your personal opinion, "incomprehensible to [your] natural mind", I wonder what else you might contribute to this thread,

For those opened minded to the Bible being a revelation from God to man - the distinction between soul and spirit is seen clearly a number of places.

The writer of the book of Hebrews says that the word of God can pierce down deep into a man right at the division of soul and spirit.

"For the word of God is living and operative and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing even to the dividing of soul and spirit and of joints and marrow, and is able to discern the thoughts and intentions of the heart." (Hebrews 4:12)

The word of God can penetrate the psyche and innermost metaphysical part of a man's being dividing asunder the human soul and the human spirit.

This is one verse those who believe in the tripartite man refer to to prove that there is a distinction between the soul and the spirit of man.

However, many Christians regard the two as synonymous. And as you can see FMF, not believing that God has revealed anything to man, holds likewise that the two are synonymous.

While in the Old Testament it is not always easy for me to make a case that often soul and spirit seem to be interchangeable, with the clarification of New Tesrtament salvation the distinction becomes much clearer.

Hebrews 4:12 speaks of the dividing of soul and spirit as I indicated above.

"For the word of God is living and operative and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing even to the dividing of soul and spirit ... " (Heb 4:12a)

Many people do not like to come to the word of God for this reason. It seems to cut too deeply like a sword. It is "able to discern the thoughts and intents of the heart".

The spiritual seeking Christian can greatly appreciate this ability of the living word of God from the living God. But some people do not like this and stay away from the word of God. They know that it seems to want to penetrate into their hearts.

We can talk about that latter. It is very consistent though, the New Testament. No one can find me a passage saying that a man is born again in his soul. But it does say that the new birth takes place in the human spirit.

"Jesus answered, Truly, truly, I say to you, Unless one is born os water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.
That which is born of the flesh is flesh and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit." (John 3:5,6)

We can find no passage in the Bible saying that the soul is born of the Spirit of God. We find that the soul is transformed by the Spirit but not regenerated by the Spirit.

@FMF

sonship, thanks for your four posts.

As a matter of interest, do you endorse or subscribe to any definition of "the human spirit" that does not make reference to "Jesus" and that might, therefore, be applicable to the majority of the human beings who don't believe in or follow him?

This something I have been thinking about for many, many years.

"Apart from the Christian gospel, is there anyone who speaks of the soul AND the human spirit in this way?"

Up to the present time, I think the matter of the human spirit as distinct from the human soul is a revelation associated with the truth of the New Testament. I do not think other faiths understand or speak about the soul of man as not synonymous with a spirit of man.

However, I believe that the human spirit contains the conscience of man. And that part is not completely unfunctioning. So then many faiths would readily speak about the conscience. I think they do not realize that they are talking about the remaining function of the damaged human spirit.