Purify the Whole Soul—Man is More than Flesh

Biology aims to prove that the mind is synonymous with the body; thoughts are chemical reactions which make up another part of the physical body. In fact many psychologists believe that the mind is the part of the body which is made up of specific thoughts, emotions and feelings. Pettinelli takes this a step further in saying, “Emotions and Feelings are Broad Thoughts.”[1] But a person is far more than just categorical physical attributes. There are many parts of a person which cannot all be explained by physical means.

The whole of a person is called the ‘soul.’ Typically, the soul is thought of as an inner spiritual characterization of a person which will be carried into the afterlife. For this reason, it is often used interchangeably with the term spirit. However, in Old Testament times, the soul was considered to be the entire man,[2] the spirit being one part of it. The Hebrew word most used for soul is nephesh. It is used to describe man after God had breathed life into him. We translate nephesh as “living soul.”[3] Nephesh is often translated as person like in when Abrahm was leaving his country, at God’s command, and he took “Sarai his wife and Lot his nephew…and the persons [nephesh] which they had acquired.”[4] Much of the New Testament comes with the same understanding of the Old Testament, however there are a few times when the soul is seen as different than the flesh.[5] There are contextual explanations for these anomalies. Also, in light of the resurrection, the soul can be defined as the whole of man, since all of man will go into eternity.

“Brothers, you are called, then, through the mercy of God to propose that your soul is a worthy sacrifice which will be found holy and acceptable to God. This is spiritual service.”[6] Bruce says of sacrifice:

The animal sacrifices of an earlier day have been rendered for ever obsolete by Christ’s self-offering, but there is always room for the worship rendered by obedient hearts. Instead of living by the standards of a world at discord with God, believers are exhorted to let the renewing of their minds by the power of the Spirit transform their lives into conformity with God’s will.[7]

Spiritual service is the purification of all of the parts of the soul which is available because of Christ and the indwelling Spirit, so that in sitting before Christ in judgment, the sacrifice of the life which is proposed to Him as an offering is judged as holy. If the sacrifice of obedience is judged as holy, then the sacrifice is accepted. In other words, the goal is for Christ to recognize a man as His follower because of the obedience in every part of the soul. Bruce says that “it is by…the pledge of their inheritance in the world to come, that they can resist the tendency to live according to the standards of ‘this world.’”[8] The soul of man must reflect this pledge in eternity, not just in the finiteness of the current world.

In order to be obedient to Christ in all areas of the soul, familiarity with the individual facets of the soul is necessary. The Bible teaches that the soul is made up of three separate parts: the spirit, the mind and the flesh. The spirit of man must be looked at in two ways: dead and living. The mind can be sub-divided further into the thoughts, will and emotions. The flesh must be understood in two ways as well: eternally and temporally.

• THE SPIRIT
• THE MIND
• THE FLESH
• CONCLUSION
• REFERENCES

[2] Brand, 2003, p. 1522

[3] Genesis 2.7 ASV

[4] Genesis 12.5 NAS

[5] Brand, 2003, p. 1522

[6] Romans 12.1 Author’s Translation

[7] Bruce, 1963, p.212

[8] Bruce, 1963, p. 214