(Ver 1.2) There is a vast amount of confusion surrounding the makeup of the human design of man.  Natural and carnal people think they are just a physical body much like every other mammal on the planet.   Certain intellectual people in the world think and believe that they are just a mind in the universal consciousness of Nirvana, or some C.R.A.P. (Christian Reasoning Applied Poorly) like that.  Please forgive my bluntness, but God is not an intellect or a mind over matter concept of a religion.  There are only a certain number of Christians that realize the truth and of course not all of them really know very much about the details of the design of man and they mix up the components when speaking about them.  There is just too many differing man made opinions on the subject and the definitions given to us in the Bible are being ignored.  So today I will attempt to explore and to explain the 3 separate parts that make up the human design and teach you how they are related, what they are and where they exist using only the Bible to explain them.  This will probably be a very long lesson on the subject, so I apologize for not breaking it down into a series of shorter lessons.  We should start with the basics from Genesis, because this was the beginning of man and it states God’s initial design concepts and purpose for a man.  Why is it important to study this subject?  Primarily because how you see yourself reflects whether you came from a monkey or from a created design of God.  Based upon the correct interpretation of Human design found in the Bible alone proves that the evolution theory of man is a myth.  In Genesis, God gives us His stated purpose for creating a man and what we will quickly discover in Genesis is that God designed man after a divine pattern of Himself:

Gen 1:26  And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the…

So here is the stated beginning of man.  Man is a created being.  Man had a specific stated point of origin.  You could call it a point of origination, but God calls it a beginning.   Genesis means a book of beginnings.  However we can see that humans are uniquely designed after a pre-existing pattern of God.  Uh Oh?   That probably bugs natural thinking people who believe only in evolution.  God who is a Spirit (John 4:24) existed before time and space existed.  God is an eternal spiritual being.  This of course is not the complete verse and I left out the ending to simply concentrate on the subject at hand of where did man come from?  The rest of the verse speaks about man’s responsibilities and purpose for being here.  However, I want to focus in on two specific words in this verse, one is “image” and the other is “likeness”.

Image

From an unused root meaning to shade; a phantom, that is, (figuratively) illusion, resemblance; hence a representative figure, especially an idol: – image, vain shew.

This is an interesting Hebrew word from the Strong’s definition.   It overall means a resemblance.  In other words you could have looked at Adam and seen his family resemblance to his father God.  I know there are many religious people who do not like me to call Adam a son of God, but yet that is what the Bible says so I’ll stick with it.  I did not say that Adam was the Son of God, so put down your stones.  Now let’s look at the word “likeness” and see the Strong’s definition for this word:

Likeness

From H1819; resemblance; concretely model, shape; adverbially like: – fashion, like (-ness, as), manner, similitude.

While this is a very similar word to the first, it is also a completely different word.  So either God is trying to teach us something, or He is just repeating Himself and confused and I do not think that God gets confused.   The key meaning of this word is “resemblance” as in the “family resemblance” was with Adam resembling his father God again.  Similitude is another definition of this word.  One definition of the word “similitude” is “One closely resembling another”.  Adam when created closely resembled his Creator.  What we can clearly see is that if Adam closely resembled God, then whatever God was, man was a very closely designed pattern of this God. You cannot look at one and not recognize the other.  Adam possessed the traits of the family resemblance of God.   When my son was born and grew up, everyone looked at him and said “He looks just like his father” and he did.   What I want you to see is this same family resemblance is handed down from generation to generation.  Here is a verse in the Bible that says something about Adam’s son resembling Adam:

Gen 5:3  And Adam lived an hundred and thirty years, and begat a son in his own likeness, after his image; and called his name Seth:

As you can clearly see the same two Hebrew words are presented for another father and son combination.  Adam’s son Seth bore the resemblance of his father Adam.  Do you recognize a pattern?  It is the same pattern between God and Adam, just being perpetuated down the line.  Every generation of Adam contained the same resemblance to God.  Man has never lost the family resemblance to the Most High.  What I want you to realize is that whatever God is, that is also what man is on a smaller limited scale.  If God is a Spirit, then man is a spirit.  If God is a triune being, then man is a triune being.  If God is a speaking spirit, then man is a speaking spirit.  There are just too many qualities of God to list them all in this lesson.  If you do not understand the trinity of God, I have written a blog on “Understanding the Trinity of God”.   So go and read about God the Father, God the Word and God the Holy Spirit being One God in that blog.  Now, what I want to do is introduce you to the concepts about the triune makeup of man.  Man if created to look like God, must precisely follow the pattern of the makeup of God’s design.

What are the three parts that make up a man?  Also, I use the term man generically as “mankind” and I’m not leaving women out, so please understand this.  According to the scriptures that I have read and studied, the human makeup of man is that primarily of a spirit being.  After all God is a Spirit.  If a man had no spirit we would be purely just like a monkey.  Animals do not have spirits.  No animal was ever made in the image and likeness of God Almighty.  Therefore, man did not evolve from animals.  There are many idiots in the world that disagree and think God used evolution to bring us into the world, but they do err and make themselves to be fools.

Jas 2:26  For as the body without the Spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.

Those who want to see what the Bible says clearly will accept verses like this one.  However, those who do not want to accept the truth will be deceived into believing the lies of Satan very easily.   Many times you just have to read the Bible and accept it for what it literally says and this is one of those times.  Man’s body we are told is dead without his spirit being inside of his body.  You can also read into this a complimentary implied truth that is given to us, if the body is dead, then the spirit has departed and is no longer in the body.  People who do not want to believe this fact try to say this word “spirit” means breath, to respire, to inspire, to take in oxygen physically.  After all God when He created Adam “breathed” the breath of life into his nostrils, Genesis 2 says.  When you think naturally you think wrong and this is most people’s problem with their interpretations of the Bible.  They forget who the author is; God is a Spirit and not a physical being.  Because God wrote the Bible in a manner to give man a choice to be wrong, many think they are right and do not understand they are completely wrong.  The Bible says that the “carnal” mind of man is enmity to God.  Natural thinking is an enemy to the thoughts and ways of God.  If you think that God came down to the earth and did mouth to mouth resuscitation on Adam to get him breathing and to live, you are clearly deceived.  God breathed His Spirit into the body of the man Adam and Adam became a living soul.  If you go back and look up the references in the Bible using the Greek word translated as “spirit” in James 2:6; you will find that it is used in context with every type of spiritual being.  God’s Spirit or the Spirit of God, who is also called the Holy Spirit are examples found with this same word.  The spirits of demons, unclean spirits and evil spirits are also defined using this word.  Does God breathe oxygen?  Does Satan breathe oxygen?  Do Angels breathe Oxygen?  If you said No!; you are correct.  So then do not think that man only breathes oxygen and that is what makes us human.  So man’s spiritual makeup is no different than God’s spiritual makeup, the makeup of angels, Satan or demons.  The only difference is that we exist physically here on this planet and that means, we eat, drink, sleep and breathe to be here.  Do not confuse natural things with spiritual things or you will be totally confused.  I guess I still need to discuss the triune nature of man so I will introduce you to this using the Bible:

1Th 5:23  And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

To declare something to be whole is to declare it to be complete, missing no parts.  Man is clearly described as a “triune” being in this verse.  Man has three distinct and separate parts that make up our “whole” existence.  These are listed in order of priority from most important to that of least importance.    The first part of man and the most essential component to man is the spirit of a man.  The spirit of man is the part that God breathed into Adam from His Spirit.  God is called the “Father” of spirits in Hebrews 12:9.  So if God is called the Father of spirits then God is only the Father of Adam’s spirit and not the father of Adam’s body.  Do you understand the difference?  When Jesus was born into the world as the Son of God, He is called the “Only Begotten”.  That means only Jesus was God’s naturally born physical Son.  God became flesh and dwelt among us (John 1:14).  You can clearly see the difference between Adam and Jesus.  Jesus was born here and Adam’s body came from the dust of the ground.  These are two radically different creative works of God.  So getting back to our verse in 1 Thessalonians 5:25; we can see that Adam when created had to possess all three of these qualities in order to live on this planet.  The Bible says that when God breathed the Spirit of Life into Adam; Adam became a living soul so we can see that the soul of Adam is different that the spirit of Adam.   God did not put His soul into Adam, it says that Adam only “became” a living soul after God breathed into his nostrils and that is completely different.    We have not discussed what a soul is, so that is probably the point of confusion for many people right now.  The final component of man listed in this verse in 1 Thessalonians 5:25 is the physical body of the man.  This is the part that we all can see and touch, but yet it is not the man, just the house that the man lives in.  These are the three components that make up the human design.  We are a triune being, consisting of three distinct parts.  We exist in three different dimensions or realms of existence.  These realms are the spiritual realm, the mental realm and the physical realm.

I have been in many churches and they sometimes use the words spirit and soul interchangeably.   They seem to think that they are one in the same things.  They will say after a church service that God saved 15 souls today in church.  Or they will pray for the soul of Brother John, because he is going through a hard time right now.  Or they will say God bless the soul of our dear sister.  So what is the difference between a soul and a spirit?  I guess we should first determine there is a difference.  So let’s start with this verse:

1Co 15:45  And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit.

So here we have a verse with the two key words used in contrasting styles and references.  God calls the first man Adam a Living Soul; but then He calls the last man Adam a quickening Spirit.   If the spirit of man was the same as the soul of the man, it would not be necessary to use different Greek words, would it?  Jesus Christ is called the Last Adam and He causes spirits to live.  The inferred reference or opposite truth to this is the clear association that the first Adam has caused spirits to die.  Since it is impossible for spirits to die, then we have to figure out another explanation of what this means.  I believe that it means that unrighteous people who are alive in the world are soul dominated or controlled.  In direct contrast to this, true Christians in the world should be Spirit aware and controlled.  If a person dies without knowing Jesus Christ and accepting Him as their personal Lord and Savior, they are now separated from God.  So any way let me give you another verse that declares the reality that the spirit and the soul are not the same thing.

Heb 4:12  For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

If God can divide the soul from the spirit, they are not one in the same things.  What God is revealing to us is that these two things are clearly closely related or even work in conjunction with each other in a joint function or purpose, but that they are clearly and distinctly different components of the human design.   God actually gives us a clue in the very last statement to the definition of these two words.  The Word of God is said to be a “discerner” of the thoughts of a man’s heart.  This word translated as “discerner” comes from a Greek word meaning a “Judge”.  The Word of God is able to judge your thoughts.  Where are your thoughts?  Your thoughts exist within the realm of your mind and intellect.  However, God declares that the thoughts are associated with your heart.  Your heart is your spirit.  So we can conclude that your mind is how you get through to your internal spirit.  I think this is a good time to introduce you to the Greek Word translated as “soul”.  Here is Strong’s definition:

psuchē

From G5594; breath, that is, (by implication) spirit, abstractly or concretely (the animal sentient principle only; thus distinguished on the one hand from G4151, which is the rational and immortal soul; and on the other from G2222, which is mere vitality, even of plants: these terms thus exactly correspond respectively to the Hebrew [H5315], [H7307] and [H2416]: – heart (+ -ily), life, mind, soul, + us, + you.

No wonder people are so confused.  Using this definition is very confusing.  It would seem to apply to everything from people down to plants and did you know that in a way this is correct.  You see every animal on our planet has a soul.  The predominate thing that I take out of this definition is the usage of the reference to the word concerning your “MIND”.   Maybe you can clearly see that the Greek word “psuche” is where we get our words like “psyche” or words like “psychology” or “psychiatrist” come from this word.   These are all Mind related curriculums and references.   These are the study of your mental health and the human mind.  This is the predominate realm of the soul of man.  To have the ability to think, rationalize, process, calculate, make decisions, among other mental functions are all related actions of the soul of man.  Your mind is of course a very complex part of your being, the ability to reason and to create come from God’s nature being imparted into man at creation.  This is part of the makeup of man that makes him different than animals.  All animals have limited soulish realms, but they do not create nor are they self-aware of their own existence!  Sure animals have limited feelings but not like those of a human.  Sure in very limited forms animals build themselves houses or things like that.  But, I’ve never seen an animal write a song or even try to play the piano on their own without the prompting or training of a man.  Animals are not wondering “Why am I here?” and “Who am I?”.  Creativity is a part of the soul of man that is unique to us.  We learned this trait from our creator God.  But, your mind is more complex than just that.  How about your memory?  The ability to learn information and to recall facts and material on a subject in an organized fashion is definitely a mental function of the human mind.  Many naturally thinking people in the world associate or attribute this to the physical human brain.  However, this is not what the Bible teaches.  Your mind, your reasoning, your memory have nothing to do with your physical brain and I can prove that to you using the Bible.

Luk 16:22  And it came to pass, that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham’s bosom: the rich man also died, and was buried;

Jesus, God in the flesh tells us a real story about two men who both died.  One man was a beggar on the earth and the other a rich man.  The bodies of both the beggar and of the rich man are buried.  The Angels of God come and take the beggar.  Did you understand this?  The spiritual angels of God came and took the spirit of the beggar to the bosom of Abraham.  Now we are immediately told what happened to the rich man:

Luk 16:23  And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom.

The rich man now suddenly appears in hell.  We are not told if the angels carried him there or if this is just where you go by default after you die.  I find this story to be fascinatingly informative about the afterlife experience.  Before Jesus was resurrected, a human could not die and go to heaven, so the righteous ones who died were transported to a place called “Abraham’s bosom” and this is a place different than hell.  It is also interesting to note that the rich man could still “see”.  Spirits have eyes.  Interesting isn’t it?   The rich man tries to ask Abraham who was a far off from where he was in hell, to send Lazarus to give him a drink of water because he was being tormented in the flames.  Then the rich man asks Abraham to send Lazarus back to the earth so that he could tell his brothers not to come to this place of torment called hell.  Are you seeing anything here?  The rich man had all of his memory, his mental reasoning abilities; his entire soul realm was with him in hell.  Jesus told us that his body was buried in the ground so that means your soul works outside of your body.  Abraham was also physically dead and his body was buried and they were holding a conversation and using their minds to do it.

Luk 16:25  But Abraham said, Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things: but now he is comforted, and thou art tormented.

Here is one of Abraham’s responses to the rich man in hell.  He told the rich man to remember and this is clearly a mental function of the soul realm.  People in hell even without their bodies can remember, think and process things using their minds.   Many try to say this story that Jesus told is a parable and not a real story, but they make Jesus a liar then.  Is Abraham a real man?  Then if Abraham is real, the beggar is also a real man named Lazarus and finally the rich man must be a real man but one who is not identified by name.  I don’t think Jesus wanted to name the rich man or you could see that he didn’t make it to heaven and feel very sad if you knew him personally or he was one of your family members.

This story of Lazarus in the Bible, clearly describes all three components that make up the human design.  Every component is clearly identified and separated in one story.   It starts in the physical realm and ends in the spiritual realm.  The mental or soulish realm transfers wherever the spirit resides.  There are just many other Bible verses that speak about the triune nature and the design of man to resemble God, but I guess I have gone too long for one lesson.  I have certainly introduced you to some new concepts about the spiritual, mental and physical parts of the human design by God and I hope and pray that you can see them clearly.  God Bless!