Have a Heart? -- How so?

[MoreMercy]

I conclude that we were created indwelt by the Spirit, or at least alive to the Spirit of God, and we have a separate physical life giving spirit in us, part of the breath of God which keeps our dusty bodies alive. So, we are spirit and body, and the combo of the two makes us a physically living soul. Take away the body by separating the spirit from the body, and we are a physically dead soul/spirit, but we are immortal -- eternally destined to hell.

And why my first post on your thread here was this, please pay special attention to the print in bold:

The second chapter in Genesis is the first introduction of these concepts to man in our bibles, so for me anyway: if my definition even though brought by scripture does not fit with it's first introduction to us in our bibles, then my definition is incorrect.

Gen 2:7 And the LORD 3068 God 430 formed 3335 man 120 [of] the dust 6083 of 4480 the dust 127, and breathed 5301 into his nostrils 639 the breath 5397 of life 2416; and man 120 became a living 2416 soul 5315.

Would anyone posting on this thread have the understanding to show that way of my thinking is incorrect ?

I see the dust-flesh-bodies as facilities for the soul.
And the breath of life-spirit as the consciousness of the the soul.

So, I see our soul as operating or motivated to operate led by either the dust-flesh-bodies desires, or our soul is operating or motivated to operate led by the God's breath-spirits desires.

Again:
Would anyone posting on this thread have the understanding to show that way of my thinking as incorrect ?



God bless.

[Watchman]

It looks to me that as of now, you go way-beyond what God's word says:

Gen 2:7
And the LORD God formed man 120 [of] the dust 6083 of the ground 127, and breathed 5301 into his nostrils the breath 5397 of life 2416; and man became a living 2416 soul 5315.

I can see why it looks that way, MM. The verse quoted was simply the basis for the beginning of my remarks, ie spirit + body = soul. The rest will be supported later this evening. OTOH, is there something in spirit + body = soul that disagrees with scripture, in your view?

Thanks,

W

[MoreMercy]

I can see why it looks that way, MM. The verse quoted was simply the basis for the beginning of my remarks, ie spirit + body = soul. The rest will be supported later this evening. OTOH, is there something in spirit + body = soul that disagrees with scripture, in your view?

Thanks,

W

That definition (spirit + body = soul) is my definition of 'soul' friend !
What I must/need attach to that definition tho is this: if my definition even though brought by other-later scriptures in our bibles does not fit with it's first introduction to us in scripture (the one in Genesis ch 2), then my definition is incorrect.

It's first introduction is in Genesis 2
:Gen 2:7
And the LORD 3068 God 430 formed 3335 man 120 [of] the dust 6083 of 4480 the ground 127, and breathed 5301 into his nostrils 639 the breath 5397 of life 2416; and man 120 became a living 2416 soul 5315.


God bless.

[Watchman]

That definition (spirit + body = soul) is my definition of 'soul' friend !
What I must/need attach to that definition tho is this: if my definition even though brought by other-later scriptures in our bibles does not fit with it's first introduction to us in scripture (the one in Genesis ch 2), then my definition is incorrect.

It's first introduction is in Genesis 2
:Gen 2:7
And the LORD 3068 God 430 formed 3335 man 120 [of] the dust 6083 of 4480 the ground 127, and breathed 5301 into his nostrils 639 the breath 5397 of life 2416; and man 120 became a living 2416 soul 5315.


God bless.

That would be true if the word, soul, only has one nuance of meaning in scripture; however, it has more than one. We are speaking of man's constitution, or makeup, so this is the definition we use in that regard. Once we move to function, that is where mind/will/emotions enter the discussion. The word, soul, is often used interchangeably with heart and spirit in scripture. In a way, it is a bit improper to try and dissect each constituent of man from the others, because they are inextricably interrelated...but we can do so for study purposes in an effort to understand what God has made. Hopefully, I'm not misreading you!

blessings,

W

[MoreMercy]

From a previous conversation here on these forums:
(note) with only minor editing of only my green text/print.

As far as by me, the author of the blue text/print shall remain anonymous:

MoreMercy - Feb 24th 2012, 11:34 PM
I try to think of flesh practically as it relates to us as a persona, as one of our two parts which makes us a living soul.
I see our flesh as more of a facility or tool for our mind or spirit to operate from. I do not see flesh as sinful in itself.
I see when the spirit is behind or mastered by the flesh, I see that as what makes flesh sinful -vs- obedient/righteous/good.
When the flesh is behind or mastered by the spirit, it is good.
When the spirit is behind or mastered by the flesh it is sinful.
I do not see flesh as sinful in itself.

Depending on what rules a man's soul is what will determine if the flesh is sinful, or if the flesh is sanctified and made righteous, re-born as a member of the body of Christ, the church, this spirit operating the flesh makes the flesh a usable vessel for our Creator. (note) : a vessel can be filled.
I know God will and does also use sinful fleshly men to work His will on the earth too, but He cannot fill them as compared to a vessel which can be filled.

When our bible uses the word fleshly I understand that to mean: leans or depends on created things rather than leaning or depending on the Creator, or looks to or partakes of the fallen world's ways, or more precisely being sensuous and indulgent in disobedient ways, rebellious to God.
Because rather than allowing our spirit to master and direct our flesh, we allow our flesh to master and direct our spirit.
And why I see our "soul" as the sum of our two parts, the flesh/dust and the spirit/breath of life.

The first time the concept of "soul" is introduced to men, it is in the account of creation in Genesis ch 2 vs 7
It says this: that when God put together the flesh/dust and the spirit/breath Adam/man became a living "soul"

However when I only see the word flesh in our bible with out a suffix attached, I understand that to mean just a creature that has breath and blood, and I do not auto-associate it with sin, death and disobedience.
In other words I see flesh in general as neutral, neither good or bad. But I see fleshly as bad, very bad.

It is not flesh that caused Adam to fall as I see it anyway, it is Adam/man's "soul" acting as tho it knows better than God knows what is best for himself which cause Adam to fall.

God bless.

******** - Feb 26th 2012, 10:38 AM
It looks like we are mostly on the same page, MM. The thing I'd point out is that each component, body and spirit, have their sets of faculties, as does also the complete being, or soul. The body has no will of its own, no mind of its own, and no emotions...it can only see, hear, touch, taste, and smell. It requires direction from the mind, will, and emotions, except for some of the reflexes and the operations of the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems. It cannot act consciously apart from direction from the soul. The soul, however, is capable of acting independently of the spirit...which is what Adam and Eve demonstrated in Eden. When that happens, the person is operating carnally, or in the flesh...in a fleshly manner. The spirit is yet present, but has been relegated only to being the animating factor, rather than the controlling entity. Since we are, first and foremost, spiritual creatures, those who ignore and bypass the direction of their spirits are "in the flesh." This is the condition into which we are all born. We have spirits, but they do not control us...hence the Greek term, psuchikos, or natural man. It can also be translated soulish man and is in direct opposition to pneumatikos, or spiritual man. There is little difference between one being a natural person and a carnal person, as Paul so aptly pointed out in 1 Coriinthians 2 and the first few versese of chapter 3.

MoreMercy - Feb 26th 2012, 02:40 PM
I see what you mean by our flesh having its own faculties now, in its knee jerk reactions or its self preservation instincts.
But as for our spirit having faculties, I see the flesh as its faculties.
Could you elaborate more on what you see as our spirits faculties (other than the flesh that it inhabits or its re-born unimpaired access to God)

Thank you.

******** - Mar 5th 2012, 11:08 PM
God has much to say about the flesh in scripture. In fact, the word occurs 337 times in 300 verses in the NKJV. Here are some of His thoughts re: the flesh:

Matthew 26:41 …the flesh [is] weak.

John 3:6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh

John 6:63a …the flesh profits nothing.

Romans 6:19 … because of the weakness of your flesh.

Romans 8:6 … For to be fleshly minded is death

Romans 7:18 … I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells;

Galatians 5:17 … the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit…

2 Corinthians 10:3 For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh.

Philippians 3:3 For we are the real circumcision, who…put no confidence in the flesh—

Colossians 2:13a And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh…

1 John 2:16 For all that is in the world--the desires of the flesh…--is not from the Father but is from the world.

Even though we are in the flesh, our Father loves us. He loved us enough to come to earth in the flesh and to die for us. He did that while we were dead. However, His view of the flesh is quite apparent. It is worth nothing but death. We all know what what Jesus did on the cross, but do we often think, “what is the meaning of ‘taking up my cross?’ The taking up of one’s cross involves the complete repudiation of self. It is the reckoning as dead those things of ourselves, of our flesh, because sin lives in our flesh. Romans 6:11, Romans 7:17,20,25 Why must we reckon ourselves as dead (to sin)? Because God sees us that way…He sees our flesh (body plus soul…self) as dead. In fact, the reason He sees us that way is because we died with Christ on the cross. This means there are a couple of aspects of the cross: Christ’s substitutional death for us, and our identification as being crucified with Him. The first has to do with our standing before God…our justification. We all understand and embrace the teaching of justification by faith, but that is only half the story. The second aspect of the cross has to do with our behavior, or our sanctification. It is this second thing…sanctification…about which we are presently concerned. More later...gotta find some food!

MoreMercy - Mar 6th 2012, 10:02 AM
The worth of flesh or lack thereof:
I see God communicating that flesh is worth nothing as a leader to our soul.
I see Him communicating that a fleshly life lived is worthy of death, but I will never confuse flesh with a fleshly life lived.

Our flesh was created as part of us to facilitate us performing the function and purpose we were created for, which He says: He created man for His pleasure, we were created to please Him, that is the only reason I can find in His recoreded word as to why we men were created.

Our flesh is a part of our total being as we were originally created. so it was created and pronounced as good originally, before our selfish disobedience was introduce into our relationship with our Creator by us.
However, I do see Him repent and communicate that He regrets creating man in flesh, but I do not see Him communicate that the flesh is worth nothing but death.

Taking up our cross:
Taking up our cross is to stop living selfishly, but stop living "selfishly" for the sole purpose of following Christ's teachings, corrections, fulfilments and His daily living examples left for us and recorded in our bibles for us to learn and examine our soul from.
Just because I deny my flesh does not bring me any closer to the likeness of Christ. I have to deny my flesh for the sole purpose of following Him to find any eternal profit from denying my flesh.

Once I decided to accept Christ as who He said He is, sin for me from that point on is redefined for me, sin is selfishness, self centered attitude and or behavior or even thoughts.
God's word teaches that everything or anything I do that is not brought about from my faith in His work done on my behalf, is sin for me.

If I abide in my flesh, in other words: If I allow my flesh to lead my soul, then I sin.
I need not even break one of Father's ten commandments to sin now, all I have to do is act, move, behave, communicate or even think, out of the realm of my faith in Christ's work done on my behalf, His teaching, corrections, examples and fulfillments of Father's words.

The only reason that Christ was an acceptable willing sacrifice to God to restore us to eternal fellowship with our Creator is because Christ lived a sinless life, He perfectly maintained being only about acting upon His Father's will while denying His flesh's desires while He walked in flesh on earth with us.

If Christ is my example then I sin if I am not about my Father's business but am about my own "selfish" business in anything I do, including get out of bed, if I get out of bed in the morning because I feel a strong urge to pee, then I sin.
But, if I get out of bed to live another day full of new and fresh opportunities to "please" my Father (the purpose I was created for) and then go to the bathroom to satisfy my flesh's urge to pee, then I do not sin.

Our bible's teaching on everything/anything we do that is not born of our faith is sin for us, when analyzed or fully digested... it goes to that extreme friend, it really does.
If I eat because I am hungry, I sin.
If I eat so I can live/survive another day to "please" my Creator, then I do not sin.

That is what picking up our cross and following Him means to me, friend.
This helps me to understand other things that use to be mysterious to me too:
When Christ says that He will not find one righteous man, no not even one when He returns to claim what He purchased. That makes total sense to me now in the light of "everything not done from faith is sin"
When Christ says that if we just love God and secondarily love our fellow creatures, then we FULFILL all of God's laws and all of His prophets. That makes total sense to me now in the light of "everything not done from faith is sin"

Everyone of my previous stumbling blocks is removed from me in the light of "everything not done from faith is sin"
But, I still stumble just as Christ stumbled from the weight of the cross on His back on the path to His appointed but freely offered death on the same said cross.
The love and sacrifice of God's first born should keep me thoughtful of His love for me enough to keep my thinking on my created "purpose" rather than heeding the distractions of my flesh's desires, but does that keep me from breaking God laws and or acting out of the realm of my faith in God's Son's work finished, of course not because my unfed spirit being is weak: my spirit is weak, not my flesh, my flesh is strong because I feed it by indulging its "selfish" desires. And, by my apparently innocent indulging of my flesh I by default starve my spirit (the other part of my soul's being) I practically starve my spirit to accommodate my flesh in these little things that we do not consider to be a sin like: eating because we are hungry, or getting out of bed in the morning because our flesh is urging us to accommodate its need to relive its bladder.

Reckoning things as dead:
Knowing and understanding those things about how anything we do that is not brought by our faith will cause us to begin reckoning dead works as dead works.
Nothing, Nothing, Nothing is dead yet but men's works and deeds, friend, nothing.
The only other things that are remotely close to being dead is the devil an his troop of following fallen angels, because God has pre-condemned them already by pronouncement of His words.
We the terrestrial creatures/men are only "liable" to die/ experience death because of our inclination to act upon our flesh's as our soul's leadership, rather than acting upon our purpose for being created as our soul's leadership.

The way God see us:
When we are not grieving God's Holy Spirit, meaning: when we are acting upon our faith, then God see us as perfect and sinless, But only because of Christ's perfect obedience and sinless life in the flesh.
But when we are grieving His Holy Spirit, meaning when we are acting upon our flesh's desires, then God see us as the filthy fallen creatures who's works or deeds are dead, we are not dead, but our works done while we are accommodating our flesh are dead. (even our good works are dead)

I do not see God as seeing us as dead, He sees our works as dead, but only sees them as dead when our works or acts are brought about by anything other than our faith in His Son's identity and His work finished on our behalf....please share with me if you disagree, please.

What God see on the cross is a spotless and blemish free pure lamb, which is the only acceptable sacrifice prescribed by God to cover sin from His eyes and memory.
Christ is that spotless and blemish free lamb, He is the one who died, tasted death for us.
We are only taught to consider ourselves dead to our former works our former ways and modes of opperation in light of Christ tasting death on the cross for us.

The only two things that died on the cross was Christ's flesh body and the former works/deeds of those who act upon their faith in Christ rather than acting upon their flesh's "desires"
The ones who accept and agree/confess that Jesus is who He said He is and also trust His works finished on the cross has fulfilled God's requirement for us to be restored to eternal fellowship with Him our Creator.

Christ’s substitutional death for us, and our sanctification and justification:
Amen, and amen !
I have nothing to share that could or would add to anything to the aspects of Christ work finished on the cross on our behalf.

God bless.

[Watchman]

In my understanding, spirit + body = soul. Each of the components, as well as the mixture of them, have their own faculties. Those of the spirit include intuition (direct knowledge), communion (fellowship, worship), and conscience (judging), while faculties of the soul include mind (intellect, rationality), emotions (feelings, desires), and will (volition, power to choose). We all know the main faculties of the body are sight, hearing, taste, smell, and touch.

The body is our means of contact with the visible, physical world. The spirit is our point of contact with the invisible, spiritual realm, and the soul stands between the two. Another way of stating this could be that the body is our means of world-consciousness, the spirit is our means of God-consciousness, and the soul is our means of self-consciousness. More later.

This study can get rather lengthy, so I’ll try to break it up into edible bites, starting with the faculties of the spirit. Thayer says the spirit is “a spirit, i.e. a simple essence, devoid of all or at least all grosser matter, and possessed of the power of knowing, desiring, deciding, and acting” The spirit is the essence of life. The Spirit of God has made me, And the breath of the Almighty gives me life. Job 33:4

The word, intuition, does not occur in scripture. It is defined as: The act or faculty of knowing or sensing without the use of rational processes; immediate cognition. A couple of examples from scripture are:

Mark 2:8 But immediately, when Jesus perceived in His spirit that they reasoned thus within themselves, He said to them, "Why do you reason about these things in your hearts?

Luke 6:8 But He knew their thoughts, and said to the man who had the withered hand, "Arise and stand here." And he arose and stood.

How did Jesus know their unspoken thoughts? Since He did only what He saw Father doing, and since He spoke only the words Father gave Him to speak, we are pretty much forced to the conclusion that He was given to see the unspoken thoughts of these folks via the Holy Spirit--His connection, if you will, to Father. IOW, He got the direct knowledge Spirit-to-spirit, without engaging His rational processes...his mind. I've got quite a bit more, but must go for now.

W

[MoreMercy]

This study can get rather lengthy, so I’ll try to break it up into edible bites, starting with the faculties of the spirit. Thayer says the spirit is “a spirit, i.e. a simple essence, devoid of all or at least all grosser matter, and possessed of the power of knowing, desiring, deciding, and acting” The spirit is the essence of life. The Spirit of God has made me, And the breath of the Almighty gives me life. Job 33:4

The word, intuition, does not occur in scripture. It is defined as: The act or faculty of knowing or sensing without the use of rational processes; immediate cognition. A couple of examples from scripture are:

Mark 2:8 But immediately, when Jesus perceived in His spirit that they reasoned thus within themselves, He said to them, "Why do you reason about these things in your hearts?

Luke 6:8 But He knew their thoughts, and said to the man who had the withered hand, "Arise and stand here." And he arose and stood.

How did Jesus know their unspoken thoughts? Since He did only what He saw Father doing, and since He spoke only the words Father gave Him to speak, we are pretty much forced to the conclusion that He was given to see the unspoken thoughts of these folks via the Holy Spirit--His connection, if you will, to Father. IOW, He got the direct knowledge Spirit-to-spirit, without engaging His rational processes...his mind. I've got quite a bit more, but must go for now.

W

How did Jesus know their unspoken thoughts? Since He did only what He saw Father doing, and since He spoke only the words Father gave Him to speak, we are pretty much forced to the conclusion that He was given to see the unspoken thoughts of these folks via the Holy Spirit--His connection, if you will, to Father. IOW, He got the direct knowledge Spirit-to-spirit, without engaging His rational processes...his mind. I've got quite a bit more, but must go for now.

W

Answer :
Discernment !
Instinct= flesh.
Discernment= spirit.

[MoreMercy]

My Lord and Master Jesus Christ is the Rock for eternity which no man can chisel upon even if He would suffer them to, there is just no weapon or tool devised or conceived that can do it !

May I only live for you My God, through Christ Jesus.

[Watchman]

Answer :
Discernment !
Instinct= flesh.
Discernment= spirit.

No argument from me on this one! Discernment comes only by the Spirit of God.

[Noeb]

Interesting analysis. you are saying the soul is the combo of the spirit and the body. What is the spirit?

Gen 2:7 And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.

Then, you are saying that heart and mind are the same thing? Not clear to me. But you are saying that spirit and soul together make up heart and mind.

Not the same. Since the body and spirit are the soul, I think
heart is more spirit than body
mind is more body than spirit
This is based on how and why they are used, involving the situation, decision, and will. Very involved study that I started and never finished. I should though.

[MoreMercy]

We would all do better to just TRUST what God first introduced to us of what the soul is in the first book of our bibles (Genesis ch 2) and not show our distrust by analyzing it, to chisel upon it, as if it does not speak of its own good-truth already better than what we desire it to.

Wouldn't we all do better if we spent our idle analyzing how we could better guard widows and orphans, or feed the hungry or tend to the sick and or oppressed here with us ?

http://bibleforums.org/showthread.ph...t-ones-are-not

If this offends any, then think how Christ's own hand-picked disciples who became apostles, think of how they felt when He/Christ called them wicked/incorrect MANY, MANY times as they followed Him daily, and they kept following Him the next day too !
He called them that many times... even til He died and resurrected perfect to ascend back to His Father God our Creator.
You who are offended, there is a reason you are offended !

Wouldn't we all do better if we spent our idle analyzing how we could better guard widows and orphans, or feed the hungry or tend to the sick and or oppressed here with us ?



Father have mercy on us.

[Watchman]

We would all do better to just TRUST what God first introduced to us of what the soul is in the first book of our bibles (Genesis ch 2) and not show our distrust by analyzing it, to chisel upon it, as if it does not speak of its own good-truth already better than what we desire it to.

Hi MoreMercy,

I don't understand this pov. I do trust God; however, I don't trust fallible people to translate His words flawlessly. The Hebrew word, nephesh, translated soul in Genesis 2, is also translated as: life, heart, person, mind, body, himself, creature, yourselves, dead, will, desire, man, themselves, any, appetite, and about 47 other miscellaneous words. Yes, we are introduced to what the soul is in the Book of Beginnings, and we are also introduced to the manner in which the soul works, ie how temptation, combined with innocence (ignorance, and not in a bad way), manipulated the minds, emotions, desires, and wills of the first two people.

I am not sure how digging into His words, analyzing them prayerfully, in order to better understand Him--His heart, His desires, His will, His purpose, and His plan--would be in any way distrusting Him. Were we chiseling upon it to discredit or disprove it, then that would be another story; however, that is not what we're doing. Your words did not offend, but they were rather surprising. Hang with this study, brother, unless you're led to do otherwise. You'll find that it all comes from the scriptures.

blessings,

Andy

[Watchman]

As we walk spiritually, our spiritual sense develops and matures. Intuition is spiritual sensing that impinges directly without, or apart from, reason or cause. It comes from within us in a straight manner. Our soul’s senses (mind, will, feelings) and our bodies senses (sight,hearing, smell, touch, taste) have antecedent causes, but the intuition has none…it comes directly from the Holy Spirit within us. We find a bit about this from Paul.

But as it is written: “ Eye has not seen,nor ear heard, Nor have entered into the heart of man The things which God has prepared for those who love Him.” But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God.

These things we also speak, not in words which man’s wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. But he who is spiritual judges all things, yet he himself is rightly judged by no one. For “who has known the mind of the LORD that he may instruct Him?” But we have the mind of Christ. 1 Corinthians 2:9-15

Let’s break this down a bit. First, the fragment, “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, Nor have entered into the heart of man…” Eyes and ears are part of the body, while the heart is representative of the soul…the mind, will, and emotions. Note that the things of God have not entered here (the flesh) and recall that His ways and thoughts are higher than are ours per Isaiah 55:9

Then we have the bit: But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God.We find that revelation comes through the Spirit. Recall that when we are joined to the Lord, we become one spirit with Him, according to 1 Corinthians 6:17. So, when the Holy Spirit searches the deep things of God, He brings them to us via our spirits...Spirit to spirit.

Just to show that I’m not making this stuff up, here’s something Paul wrote: we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God.We receive the Spirit that we might know! He takes from what belongs to Christ and makes it known to us…Spirit to spirit…and this occurs, by definitiion, via our intuition.

back in awhile,

W

[Watchman]

If all of us who have been saved have Christ’s mind, then why is there so much disagreement among the Lord’s people? I believe it is due to varying degrees of spiritual maturity among believers...and another thing. The answer also lies in the next fragment: not in words which man’s wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. Man’s wisdom arises from his intellect and is often based upon emotions; however, the Spirit teaches with words that compare spiritual things with spiritual things. When man’s wisdom gets in the way, an attempt is being made to compare soulical, or natural,things with spiritual, or supernatural, things…which is a recipe for disaster. This is what the Pharisees had done, and they ended up making laws where there were none. Their traditions became laws and this mixing of man’s wisdom with God’s spiritual law made His word ineffective. Matthew 15:6, Mark 17:13

Why is this so? Could the reason the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, be because they are spiritually discerned.? The natural man is an unsaved, fleshly man. He doesn’t have God’s Spirit, so he cannot receive His instruction. He is left, through the non-spiritual faculties of his mind and feelings, to decide (with his will) what is good, right, and true. He has no spiritual intuitive discernment. He will, in effect,be guessing at what God’s will is…even if he’s reading straight out of his giant print KJV Bible with study notes, concordance, maps, lexical aids, cross-references, and pictures. One must employ spiritual means to reach spiritual ends.

But he who is spiritual judges all things, yethe himself is rightly judged by no one. A spiritual person is one who is ruled by their spirit. They have a highly sensitive intuition that is qualified to function due to its quietness…it is undisturbed by the faculties of the soul. Why can this spiritual person judge all matters? It is because this one intuitively leans upon the Spirit for knowledge and instruction…and the Spirit,as we know, searches the deep things of God. Why can this spiritual person not be judged by anyone? I believe it is because no one can know what the Spirit has imparted to the spiritual one’s intuition. The Spirit blows like the wind, and we can’t tell where He comes from or where He’s going.

For “who has known the mind of the LORD thathe may instruct Him?” This is a reference to Isaiah 40:13 and one that Paul repeated in Romans 11:34. No human has, within their natural abilities, the capacity to know and understand the mind of the Lord. His thoughts are too much higher than are our thoughts. Much more, then, nobody can instruct the Lord, or give Him counsel. Our Father was rather blunt with Job onthis matter, asking Job, ”Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth?...” Job 38:1-40:2

But we have the mind of Christ. The gist of verses 13-16 is this: those operating in the realm of the soul can neither know the Lord’s mind nor know the minds of spiritual people who are fully under His sway. But we who have been born of the Spirit have the mind of Christ; therefore, we are able to discern His thoughts. Babes in Christ will not be able to discern His thoughts as well as the mature in Christ, even though both have Christ’s mind. Paul’s next statement bears this out.

And I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual people but as to carnal, as to babes in Christ. I fed you with milk and not with solid food; for until now you were not able to receive it, and even now you are still not able; for you are still carnal. For where there are envy, strife, and divisions among you, are you not carnal and behaving like mere men? 1 Corinthians 3:1-3

Paul has previously said that reception of spiritual things requires spiritual discernment, yet now he says he can’t address these Holy Spirit gift exhibiting Corinthian saints as spiritual. They were unable to receive solid food from the Spirit. Why? Because they were acting unlike new creations in Christ…they were acting like unsaved folks.They were acting out of the power of their souls. As previously mentioned, when discussing the leading of the Holy Spirit, the question arises, “If He is directly leading us, then why is there so much doctrinal disagreement among believers?” The answer is this: there is so much disagreement among believers because some are being led directly by the Spirit, some are double-minded (walking by the Spirit at times and walking by their souls at times), and some are operating exclusively by the power of their minds, wills, and feelings. Yet all are claiming to be Spirit-filled, Spirit-led Christians. Obviously, this is not the case.

Spiritual saints have given their intuition its rightful position. They have done this by delivering their thoughts, their desires, their feelings, and their volition to the cross. By this process, the faculties of their souls have been renewed and placed back into submission to their spirits. As such, when the human spirit communes with the Holy Spirit and receives intuitive direction, the mind, then understands the directive of the spirit, the emotions activate only if called upon by the spirit, and the will voluntarily executes the revelation from the spirit. True spiritual progress depends upon the growth of the spirit and its intuition; the rest belongs to the flesh and is of NO value. This is why Paul prayed that the Ephesian saints would “be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man…”

blessings,

W

[Eyelog]

And why my first post on your thread here was this, please pay special attention to the print in bold:

Not sure what you r point is here? Did you perceive I said I disagreed with you before?