Aspects of Being Human
There is a common misunderstanding of what it means to be a human being. We tend to think that it is only our brain and perhaps the fact that we have thumbs to grab tools is what separates us from the animals. However, anyone who has spent any amount of time around animals can see that there are many who can figure out simple tasks. For example, my dog has figured out how to lock doors. A trait that becomes quite irritating when she locks you out of the house in the rain all because she is mad that you took the trash out instead of her. So what then is it that separates us from the animal kingdom? The answer is found in 1 Thessalonians 5:23.
“23 Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
From this verse, we see that there are three aspects of belonging to the human race. That is to possess a body, spirit, and soul. The body is the easiest to deal with. After all, we all have a physical appearance. Our bodies are our earthly home, this allows us to recognize one another and the world around us. It is the spirit and soul that often gets lumped together in many people’s understanding. However, this verse makes it clear that they are two separate aspects.
The soul is your personality, how you think, how you feel, how you interact in the world. In his book The Mystery of Godliness, Major W. Ian Thomas describes the soul as “That man is an animal goes without saying! We eat and drink the animal way; we breath and breed and bleed - and die - the animal way! That man is not only animal will I trust become equally clear, but animal he is! Furthermore, as ‘fallen man,’ he is perfectly capable of behaving though spiritually destitute and completely ‘alienated from the life of God’ (EPH 4:18). His spiritual condition determines not whether he can behave, but only how he will behave.” This means that our soul directs our behavior/personality. Before we accept God’s free gift of salvation, we are spiritually dead and alienated from God. “18 being darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardness of their heart;” Ephesians 4:18. Those who do not know God have a hard heart, this is seen in the life of Pharaoh during the Jews exodus from Egypt. Moses continually came to Pharaoh asking that he let the Jews go, each time Pharaoh hardened his heart against the will of God and received more and more calamity (Exodus 8). When we are spiritually dead we can behave good and/or bad but the end result is still a dead spirit.
The soul can be broken up into three aspects in itself; will, emotions, and mind. These aspects all direct our daily behavior. What makes this aspect unique is that your inward behavior can be hidden by the outward behavior that you show to everyone else. I don’t think there is a person among us who hasn’t had an argument with someone who wasn’t even there, or been listening to someone talk but all the while daydreaming of what the weekend will hold. There is only One who can truly know and understand the thoughts that we have. God who is omniscient knows our thoughts and actions before we even think through them. This is seen clearly in proverbs 15:26, “The Lord detests the thoughts of the wicked,”
The third aspect of being human is the spirit. As mentioned above, the spirit and the soul are separate. The spirit is what allows us to live eternally with or separate from God. Major W. Ian Thomas describes the spirit as “the human spirit is this unique capacity which God has given to man, which enables him both to receive and be motivated by the very life of God Himself.” The spirit is the pinnacle difference between man and other created beings. This can be hard to understand, but is important nonetheless. All men have Body and Soul, but only born-again believers in Jesus Christ have a Spirit. This is why a born-again believer is identified as being a “new creation.” This is the very reason why the Christian is inwardly yearning for the complete renewal that will only come with the Rapture. We have a living Spirit, an imprint of the very living God in us. However our sinful nature which has lost its permanency on us is still not vanquished entirely until that glorious day we are called home. Only then will the believers finally have all three in perfect unity with how we were designed.
However, there is hope for those whose spirit is dead, if one only recognize and come to Christ asking for His mercy and forgiveness, God would grant a new life. Major W. Ian Thomas describes this as such “when you act in obedience to the Truth, revealed through the Word, the truth behaves, and the end effect is righteousness.” Even though we are not fully restored until our new bodies, we who are saved have real power! We have the living God who made the universe living inside of us; He created us, designed us, molded us, and is now actively guiding us. Dear reader, that is power, it means we can do what the unsaved could never fathom. The believer can look at a difficult situation or even a minor annoyance and respond according to the Word. They know the Word and can therefore act upon it, it is how we as believers shine for the Lord in difficult times. The unbeliever does not have this capability, instead they can only respond in a way that reflects what is inside of them. It is why we as Christians, born-again followers of Christ, need to keep our focus on Him. “If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. 3 For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. ” Colossians 3:1-3.
So recapping I want to make this perfectly clear. The body is our earthly tent, it is the most tangible aspect that we can understand. Our soul is nothing more than our personality and how we “tick”, it is your characteristics. Yet, our most valuable human prospect is whether or not the Spirit is living or is dead. On our own we cannot make the Spirit living, but are in need of Jesus Christ to ignite in us what is only He can and has done. Remember, our very design is based on pointing us back to the cross and on what Christ has done for us.
Seek the truth and encourage one another,
Alex