Spirit, soul, body

May you be preserved complete

when Jesus returns.

-1 Thessalonians 5:23

Invisible things are as real as those we can't see. Have you ever seen oxygen or hydrogen - not a textbook illustration, but the actual element? Have you ever seen a quark? Has anyone? We know they exist not because we see them, but because we see and feel their effects. We see the effects of wind - blowing leaves, moving clouds - yet no one has seen the wind. The same is true of our soul and spirit. We can't see them, but we see the evidence they exist.

Soul and spirit are closely connected, but not the same. One of my favorite scriptures, Hebrews 4:12, compares soul and spirit to joint and marrow. It says, "For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart." Joints connect things in our body. Marrow is the safely hidden core of the bone. Our soul connects us with other people. Our spirit is our core, our deepest part. No one can know our depths unless we share them through the means of our soul - the mind and emotions.

Our bodies are like a glove for our invisible parts. It is something we have, not something we are. We constantly receive information about the physical world around us through our physical senses - taste, touch, see, smell, hear. This information bombards us every moment, even while we sleep. Our challenge is to see beyond that to the invisible realities God reveals to our spirit by His Spirit. We need to press past the physical and even the mental understanding of what we are and begin to absorb the spiritual realities that surround us.

"God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth."

-John 4:24


Read on! 1 Samuel 1:15

Hebrews 6:2 - Eternal Judgment

Heaven awaits us

God's glory burns dross away

Precious stones remain

-1 Corinthians 3:12-15

Eternal judgment. This could take up several posts. John Bevere has an entire curriculum on it based on his book Driven By Eternity. I highly recommend it. Judgment is not light dinnertime conversation, but it is a basic principle of Christianity according to the word of God. (Hebrews 6:2) I've been simmering on this most of the afternoon. I'm a polite person, but there's no polite or politically correct way to address eternal judgment. Someone is going to get huffy. I'm going to keep it super basic. If you want to study more dig into the sciptures noted, find a concordance and look up "judgment", or get a good teaching on it like the one mentioned above.

There are two eternal judgments. The first is when God separates the righteous from the unrighteous. This is the judgment Jesus speaks of in Matthew 25:32-46. What we do with Christ - accepting or rejecting Him as Lord and Savior - determines if we are sheep or goats. Trust me. You wanna' be a sheep.

The second judgment is what Paul mentions in 1 Corinthians 3:12-15. This is when the sheep will stand before God and have the works they did while they were on earth tried by fire. All the dead works will be burned up. All the good works will come through the fire like gold, silver and precious stones. For more on good works vs. dead works see the previous post from (date). Our eternal reward is what survives the fire.

That's as basic as I can state it. I love Jesus and I'm very glad to be a sheep!

Hebrews 6:2 - Resurrection of the Dead

Christ abolished death.

Brought to light through the gospel

our eternal life.

-2 Timothy 1:10

Resurrection of the dead is a basic, foundational doctrine. (Hebrews 6:2) I have a feeling this post could be very long or very short. Since the focus is on basics, we'll keep it short.

Jesus overcame death when He rose from the dead. He is the firstborn from the dead. Jesus says in John 5 that we will all "come forth." It's significant that He uses the same words here while teaching his disciples as He did when raising Lazarus from the dead: come forth. Every one's body will be raised, some to eternal judgment and others to eternal life. More on that tomorrow. In John 11 Jesus says:

"I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies, and everyone who believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?"

The scripture is clear that when our bodies die, that is not the end. (2 Corinthians 5:18) Our spirits continue to live, and eventually our bodies will also be raised. If we are in Christ when we die, we will have glorious, sinless bodies when we are raised. Hallelujah! We will be recognizable, yet not the same after the resurrection. Praise God! 1 Corinthians 15:3-23, Matthew 22:23-32, Acts 24:14-15

PS-And we don't become angels. That would be a demotion. (1 Corinthians 6:3)

Hebrews 6:2 - Laying on of Hands

We are Christ’s body.

Transmit to those around you

The life you’ve received

-Mark 16:15-18

According to Hebrews 6:2 laying hands on people is basic Christianity. Today I discovered I was making this too complicated...again! The Holy Spirit is an outstanding teacher. I love how God simplifies things when you ask Him. Laying hands is a way to transmit or give something to someone else. Simple.

Science recognizes this. If someone sneezes on their hand and reaches toward you without washing, you won't shake their hand. At least you’ll think twice before doing so. You don't want what they have to be transmitted to you through touch. The original design was for life to be transferred, not death. Sickness and disease are death in it’s beginning stage. If you are in Christ the healer lives in you. You are infused with life that is contagious and transferable. Where do you think the devil got the idea? He’s a copycat, not a creator.

Transmission by touch - laying on of hands - is God’s idea. The Greek word most commonly used is epitithimi. Epithesis, a more official term, is also used four times. Based on Acts 8:17-19 both words refer to the same action. The list below of New Testament references to laying hands includes what was given or transmitted.

Matt 9:18, Mark 5:23 - life to the ruler's daughter
Matt 19:13, 15 - blessing to children
Mark 6:5 - health to the sick
Mark 7:32 - wholeness/healing to a deaf man
Mark 8:23, 25 - wholeness/healing to a blind man
Mark 16:18 - healing/recovery
Luke 4:40 - healing
Luke 13:13 - freedom/healing
John 9:14 - healing
Acts 6:6 - authority to the seven chosen to "serve tables"
Acts 8:17 - Holy Ghost to new believers (epitithimi & epithesis)Acts 9:12, 17 - healing & Holy Ghost to Paul after his conversion
Acts 13:3 - authority/anointing to “go forth”
Acts 19:6 - Holy Ghost to believers
Acts 28:8 - healing
1 Tim 4:14 - gift of God to Timothy (epithesis)2 Tim 1:6 - gift of God to Timothy (epithesis)Rev. 1:17 - strength to Apostle John

Paul warned Timothy to "lay hands suddenly on no man...." This significant action is not to be taken lightly. Unseen things are just as transferable as those we can see. I can’t see courage or blessing, and yet they are transmittable through touch according to the word. Fill up daily with God’s life by listening to His Spirit, reading His word concerning your daily needs and situations, and praying in the Spirit. Then go out ready to transmit life to those around you. Praise God!

Hebrews 6:1 - Faith Toward God

Lay a foundation

Leave the elementary

Mature, build, grow up

-Hebrews 5:11-6:2

Faith toward God, according to Hebrews 6:1, is elementary. Elementary means babies can get it. If it seems hard, I'm making it hard. I gained courage from this today.

I send courtesy and humility toward other people.
Titus 3:2 …to be gentle, and to show perfect courtesy toward all people.
1 Peter 5:5 …clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”

God sends mercy and patience toward us.
Hebrews 8:12 …For I will be merciful toward their iniquities, and I will remember their sins no more.”
2 Peter 3:9 …The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not willing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.

We send confidence, faith and repentance toward God.
1 John 5:14 …this is the confidence we have toward Him, that if we ask anything according to His will He hears us…
Philemon 1:5 …because I hear of your love and of the faith that you have toward the Lord Jesus and for all the saints.
Acts 20:21 …testifying both to Jews and to Greeks of repentance toward God and of faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.

The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia says this about faith:




It is important to notice that Heb_11:1 is no exception to the rule that "faith" normally means "reliance," "trust." There "Faith is the substance...of things not seen." This is sometimes interpreted as if faith, in the writer's view, were, so to speak, a faculty of second sight, a mysterious intuition into the spiritual world. But the chapter amply shows that the faith illustrated, e.g. by Abraham, Moses, Rahab, was simply reliance upon a God known to be trustworthy. Such reliance enabled the believer to treat the future as present and the invisible as seen.Yesterday God asked me a question. (No audible voice, just a gut question.) "How would you be acting right now if you knew every worry on your mind was completely taken care of? What would you be doing? Do that now." So I did. I cleaned the house and enjoyed myself instead of allowing myself to be paralyzed into inaction by worry and what-ifs. I just now realized - that's faith!

Thanks, God!

Hebrews 6:1 - Repentance from dead works

Lay a foundation

Leave the elementary

Mature, build, grow up

-Hebrews 5:11-6:2

The first elementary teaching Paul mentions in Hebrews 6 is repentance from dead works. The first step for every Christian is accepting the work of Christ on their behalf. No one can work their way into heaven. This truth sets Christianity apart from every other religion on the planet. For millennium humans have tried various means to obtain their god's favor. If I pray enough times in the correct way...if I wear the right clothes...if I chant the words enough times...if I live enough lives...if my good outweighs my bad - then I will earn an eternal reward. If not, I will get eternal punishment. I challenge you to find a human religion that doesn't fall into that category. People spend their lives trying to win God's favor or appease His wrath. These are dead works; they are motivated by fear.  

True Christianity is not about that. The Bible says we are saved by grace through faith, not of works so no one may boast. (Ephesians 2:8-9) Salvation is God's free gift to His children. We rest securely knowing that every mistake, every wrong thought and wrong action has been paid for and removed by Christ's blood on the mercy seat in heaven. Our faith and love for Jesus is expressed through living works! That is what James is talking about. When I have a living, love relationship with Jesus, it must bear fruit. Fruit is evidence of vitality. Living works are an expression of the love of Christ in me working it's way out and touching other people. When I love someone, everybody knows it. I think about them at work, at school, at the grocery store. They invade so much of my thought life that it affects how I act. That's what our love affair with Jesus should be like. He invades our thoughts so much, our actions are affected.

Living works and dead works can look the same on the outside. Even Christians can fall back into dead works. It's the motivation that determines which category they fall into. The good news is God will transform our hearts when we repent from trying to earn His favor and ask Him to help us. He's so good!

Hebrews 9:14, Hebrews 10: 19-25

Pressing In Together

But the goal of our instruction is love from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith.
-1 Timothy 1:5

According to Jesus agape love is the fulfilment of the law. Our faith works by love. When we fulfill the law by loving God with all our heart, mind, soul and strength and loving our neighbor as ourself, then our conscience will be clear. We will have a good conscience that gives us confidence before God and does not hinder our faith. We come to our heavenly Father with boldness, knowing our actions reflect His heart toward others and ourselves. He searches the earth to find people like this so He can pour out His goodness on them.


This is the kind of person I determine to be. Because He lives in me and by His grace I can do all things. Even love my neighbor as myself.


Do I want to go to hell? Of course not. Neither does my neighbor. My unsaved neighbors need to know how to miss hell and gain heaven. I’m a fisherman. Use bait that entices and a net without holes.


Do I want to go through life wondering if God hears me and never knowing if I’ve heard from Him? No, that’s a miserable and discouraging way to live. My saved neighbor needs to know it’s possible to have a “know-so” relationship with their Heavenly Father. They need to be taught how to recognize His voice and how to have confidence when they speak to Him.


Do I want to always depend on others and think only of myself? No. We all need to develop spiritual muscles and become mature. Some folks are spiritual babies and need time to grow. Others are spiritual mooches and need to be exhorted to grow up. Paul said of these, “By this time you ought to be teachers, but you have need again for someone to teach you the elementary principles…”


But, beloved, we are convinced of better things concerning you…and we desire that each one of you show the same diligence so as to realize the full assurance of hope until the end, so that you will not be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises.
-Hebrews 6:9, 11


Hebrews 6: 1-2 lists what Paul considered basic Christianity. The next few posts will look at some of these foundational principles so we can test ourselves by the word, see where we stand and by His grace become stronger and more mature.


Pressing in together!
Della P