Body, Soul and Spirit - Designed for the Gospel

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Body, Soul and SpiritDesigned For the Gospel

Dane Smith Toffler



Body, Soul and Spirit

Designed for the Gospel



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Preface

There is much difference of opinion among people regarding ourspiritual make-up. This book will address how the subject is

defined in the Holy Bible. That said, the various believers anddenominations that use the Judeo-Christian scriptures as theirguide are not unanimous in their interpretations of this very im-portant subject. This book will attempt to explain the differ-ences in opinion as well as their historical origins.

The author believes that all religious people have interpreted thissubject to the best of their abilities, and he realizes that not all

will share in his interpretation of the scriptures on this subject.He asks only that each believer consider prayerfully the pointsmade and to let the matter be decided by the Holy Spirit as it isHis office to guide us all into the Truth.

Dane TofflerLinden, Virginia September 2008

© Contents copyright 2008 by Dane Smith Toffler



Body, Soul and Spirit“May the God of peace Himself sanctify you wholly; and may

your spirit and soul and body be kept sound and blameless at

the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

1 Thessalonians 5:23, RSV.

In his closing remarks to the believers at Thessalonika,

quoted above, Paul prayed for sanctification (the des-tiny that God desires for us) to be complete in them. He

told them that this would affect their bodies, their soulsand their spirits.

Just as, physically, the body contains organs, muscles and

bones, so the spiritual composition of a person has the

components of body, soul and spirit. The organs, musclesand bones do not have a personality, but the spiritualcomponents do. As a person I can be identified by my

body, my soul or my spirit. At the level of identification,the three components are almost interchangeable. As a

person experiences me, I might be described as strong ornoble or sad. Strength could refer to my physical or bod-

ily strength. Nobility might reflect my soul or personal-ity. Sadness could describe my feelings or the state of my

spirit. But, conclusively identifying which spiritual com-ponent was referred to by these qualifying adjectives

might be difficult or impossible.



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But, the spiritual components of a person have a purpose

outside of personality descriptions. God designed humansto have this spiritual anatomy in order to save them. He

did not design the other animals in His creation the sameway. Animals do not have morals, they simply live and

die. When they die they just return to where they started.Mankind is different. We were created in God’s image

and we have the same components spiritually that Hedoes.

It was part of God’s plan in our creation to make us insuch a way that we could be saved even though wewould be sinners that could not be saved naturally. We

would be saved spiritually. God would take advantage ofthe fact that we exist on two levels, naturally and spiri-

tually. You may ask why I say two levels instead of three,because of the body, soul and spirit description. I will

explain this presently.

What is Life?

First we must look at the details of God’s description oflife itself. God speaks, through His prophets and apostles,

of life in two ways when He speaks of natural life. First,

He speaks of the relation between body and breath:“Then the LORD God formed man of dust from the

ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life;and man became a living being.” Genesis 2:7, RSV.



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In Eden, we see that He breathed life into the inanimate

body He had created. This breath of life was in Him andHe put it in the man. So He transferred His life to us.

When we die the reverse happens:

“And the dust returns to the earth as it was, and thespirit returns to God who gave it.” Ecclesiastes 12:7, RSV.

Secondly, while we are alive naturally, God says the life

is in our blood:

“For the life of the flesh is in the blood” Leviticus 17:11,RSV.

Science tells us this last fact, also. We know that the

blood carries the oxygen continually through our bodiesmaking the whole body alive. When breathing stops, life

stops.

So, naturally, we receive life from God and it is carried inour bloodstream until we die. This life is temporary.

What is Eternal Life?

Spiritually, we may receive another kind of life from God

which is permanent or eternal.

After Jesus had resurrected, He appeared to His disciplesand said:

“Peace be with you. As the Father has sent Me, even so Isend you.” And when He had said this, He breathed on



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them, and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit.” John

20:21,22, RSV.

When the feast of Pentecost came approximately fifty days later, a similar experience was had by the apostles

and around 120 disciples:

“When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all to-gether in one place. And suddenly a sound came from

heaven like the rush of a mighty wind, and it filled all thehouse where they were sitting. And there appeared to

them tongues as of fire, distributed and resting on eachone of them. And they were all filled with the Holy

Spirit and began to speak in other tongues, as the Spiritgave them utterance.” Acts 2:1-4, RSV.

So, similar to the breathing of the breath of life that

Adam experienced that gave him natural life in the be-

ginning, here the apostles and disciples are breathed uponby God to bring them a new kind of life. See what theapostle Paul says in the epistle to the Romans:

“But you are not in the flesh, you are in the Spirit, if in

fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Any one who doesnot have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to Him. But

if Christ is in you, although your bodies are dead becauseof sin, your spirits are alive because of righteousness. If

the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwellsin you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will



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give life to your mortal bodies also through His Spirit

which dwells in you.” Romans 8:9-11, RSV.

The inspiration of the Holy Spirit brings about a rela-tionship with Jesus Christ:

“And this is the testimony, that God gave us eternal life,

and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has life;he who has not the Son of God has not life.” 1 John

5:11,12, RSV.

In 1 Corinthians, Paul makes the following comparison:

“Thus it is written, “The first man Adam became a livingbeing”; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit.” 1

Corinthians 15:45, RSV.

Christ is the one named the last Adam, as this is a secondbeginning for mankind.

In both cases, natural life and eternal life, the spirit thatanimates us is from God, it is not part of us. It is external

to us until God acts.

“The spirit of God has made me, and the breath of the Almighty gives me life.” Job 33:4, RSV.

Spiritual Influence

Thus far we have looked at the definition of spirit which

describes that which makes us alive. The Bible alsospeaks of a kind of spirit that has influence over the liv-



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ing. In this regard let us look at what Jesus told Nicode-

mus during their night-time interview:

“The wind blows where it wills, and you hear the soundof it, but you do not know whence it comes or whither

it goes; so it is with every one who is born of theSpirit.”” John 3:8, RSV.

In the above passage, the English words “wind” and

“Spirit” are used to translate the Greek word pneuma.

Pneuma is also sometimes translated as breath. It is there-

fore necessary to see that the context where pneuma isfound is important for translating it properly into an

English equivalent.

In Jesus’ example He tells us that the effect of wind andthe Spirit are similar in that we see the results of the

wind blowing but we do not actually see the wind, we

see the result of the Spirit’s influence on a person, but wenever actually see the Spirit. The wind influences the treebranches and the leaves, the Spirit influences the behavior

of a person.

In the Hebrew of the Old Testament the word ruach isused in the same manner pneuma is used in the Greek of

the New Testament. In the following quotations from theOld Testament ruach is used in a manner to show another

way that spirit can be understood:



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“And if the spirit of jealousy comes upon him, and he is

jealous of his wife who has defiled herself; or if the spiritof jealousy comes upon him, and he is jealous of his wife,

though she has not defiled herself...” Numbers 5:14, RSV.

“My people inquire of a thing of wood, and their staffgives them oracles. For a spirit of harlotry has led them

astray, and they have left their God to play the harlot.”Hosea 4:12, RSV.

In the above cases a man can be filled with a “spirit” of

jealousy or a “spirit” of harlotry. This is describing howthe thoughts, beliefs or inclinations of a man’s mind can

so overwhelm him that he takes an action based on thosethoughts, beliefs or inclinations. This is another example

of that which is unseen producing something seen.

Our Spirits

In all these cases, since spirit is an influence either fromwithout or within, it is hard to see it as a true part of the

person as in body, soul and spirit.

But there are also examples from the Bible which show aspirit with “personhood”:

“Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation;the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.”” Mark14:38, RSV.



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“And my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,” Luke 1:47,

RSV.

“For God is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit inthe gospel of His Son, that without ceasing I mention you

always in my prayers,” Romans 1:9, RSV.

“It is the Spirit Himself bearing witness with our spiritthat we are children of God,” Romans 8:16, RSV.

Spiritual versus Unspiritual

“For what person knows a man’s thoughts except the

spirit of the man which is in him?

So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God exceptthe Spirit of God. Now we have received not the spirit of

the world, but the Spirit which is from God, that wemight understand the gifts bestowed on us by God.

And we impart this in words not taught by human wis-

dom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritualtruths to those who possess the Spirit.

The unspiritual man does not receive the gifts of the

Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able

to understand them because they are spiritually dis-cerned.” 1 Corinthians 2:11-14, RSV.

In these last verses, Paul is telling us that if we do not re-ceive the Spirit of God, our thinking will only be influ-

enced by the spirit and wisdom of the world, which



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leaves us unspiritual and unable to understand spiritual

matters. But, if we receive the Spirit of God we will bespiritual and we will be able to understand spiritual mat-

ters. Even though neither the spirit of the world norGod’s Spirit can be seen, each has its influence: one leaves

us unspiritual, the other makes us spiritual.

Life versus Eternal Life

Paul makes the point that it is my spirit that knows my

thoughts, just as it is the Spirit of God that knows His

thoughts. God has a Spirit and since I am created in Hisimage, I also have a spirit. But, it must be rememberedthat my spirit is the life within me, and that life is either

the natural life I received at birth or it is eternal life re-ceived through faith and both are borrowed from God.

When our lives begin we receive the breath of life to ani-

mate us, but this is only meant to be a place-holder untilwe become born-again. At that time we are meant to re-ceive the Spirit of God to replace the breath of life. The

breath of life only gives us temporary existence, but theSpirit of God brings us life eternal. The breath of life is a

type of eternal life. It points forward to the anti-typical

eternal life brought about by receiving the Holy Spirit. As born-again believers we receive our life from havingthe Spirit of God instead of from breathing air.



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The Body as a Spiritual Component

Now we will turn our thoughts to considering the body.

The body is referred to in the Bible by various concepts:as the flesh or that which is fleshly; as that which is car-

nal; as a tent, temple or tabernacle. It is that part of uswhich is involved in works or actions as contrasted with

the part involved with faith or spirit. It is also referred toas the outward or outer man.

It is the body that carries the inherited sin-principle, the

tendency towards sin and sinning. It is this relationshipbetween the body and sin that causes all humanity to sin

from birth onward. See the following Bible texts:

“For they that are after the flesh mind the things of theflesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the

Spirit. For the mind of the flesh is death; but the mind of

the Spirit is life and peace: because the mind of the fleshis enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law ofGod, neither indeed can it be: and they that are in the

flesh cannot please God.” Romans 8:5-8, ASV.

“Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from thisbody of death?” Romans 7:24, RSV.

“We know that our old self was crucified with Him sothat the sinful body might be destroyed, and we might

no longer be enslaved to sin.” Romans 6:6, RSV.



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“And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the

flesh with its passions and desires.” Galatians 5:24, RSV.

“For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but ifby the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body you

will live.” Romans 8:13, RSV.

“For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh,could not do: sending His own Son in the likeness of sin-

ful flesh and for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh,” Ro-mans 8:3, RSV.

“Therefore as sin came into the world through one man

and death through sin, and so death spread to all men be-cause all men sinned--” Romans 5:12, RSV.

“Among these we all once lived in the passions of our

flesh, following the desires of body and mind, and so we

were by nature children of wrath, like the rest ofmankind.” Ephesians 2:3, RSV.

“The wicked go astray from the womb, they err fromtheir birth, speaking lies.” Psalms 58:3, RSV.

“Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin didmy mother conceive me.” Psalms 51:5, RSV.

“The imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth”

Genesis 8:21, RSV.

These texts show that the imaginations of a man’s mindand the feelings of his heart are controlled by the passions



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and desires of the body, causing the man to sin and do

evil. We inherited these tendencies to evil because Adam’schildren were born in his likeness and his image instead

of the likeness and image of God. We see that the testi-mony of the Scripture, both Old and New Testaments,

agrees in describing our sad condition.

The Body as a Dwelling Place

God’s intention was to have our bodies be used as a

dwelling place:

“Do you not know that your body is a temple of the

Holy Spirit within you, which you have from God? Youare not your own; you were bought with a price. So glo-

rify God in your body.” 1 Corinthians 6:19,20, RSV.

“Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that

God’s Spirit dwells in you? If any one destroys God’stemple, God will destroy him. For God’s temple is holy,and that temple you are.” 1 Corinthians 3:16,17, RSV.

These verses below refer to the body as the tent we live

in:

“And I think it right, as long as I am in this tabernacle, to

stir you up by putting you in remembrance; knowingthat the putting off of my tabernacle cometh swiftly,even as our Lord Jesus Christ signified unto me.” 2 Peter

1:13,14, ASV.



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“For we know that if the earthly tent we live in is de-

stroyed, we have a building from God, a house not madewith hands, eternal in the heavens. Here indeed we groan,

and long to put on our heavenly dwelling, so that by putting it on we may not be found naked. For while we

are still in this tent, we sigh with anxiety; not that wewould be unclothed, but that we would be further

clothed, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life.” 2 Corinthians 5:1-4, RSV.

Outer Man and Inner Man

Therefore, my body is a dwelling place, both for me andfor the Holy Spirit. How is this possible? See the follow-

ing verses:

“Though our outward man is decaying, yet our inward

man is renewed day by day.” 2 Corinthians 4:16, ASV.

“For I delight in the law of God after the inward man:”Romans 7:22, ASV.

“That He would grant you, according to the riches of His

glory, that ye may be strengthened with power throughHis Spirit in the inward man;” Ephesians 3:16, ASV.

If we have an outer nature and a inner nature, we need toknow the differences between them. First of all, we mustrealize that we were born with the two natures, but have

only been aware of one of them. This is because when weare born, the inner nature is dead or dormant because of



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sin. It continues to be dormant until we become born-

again. At that point, Christ makes the inner nature alivewith His own life. See the following Bible texts:

“And you He made alive, when you were dead through

the trespasses and sins” Ephesians 2:1, RSV.

“Even when we were dead through our trespasses, madeus alive together with Christ (by grace you have been

saved), and raised us up with Him, and made us sit withHim in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,” Ephesians

2:5,6, RSV.

“In Him also you were circumcised with a circumcisionmade without hands, by putting off the body of flesh in

the circumcision of Christ; and you were buried withHim in baptism, in which you were also raised with Him

through faith in the working of God, who raised Him

from the dead. And you, who were dead in trespasses andthe uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive to-gether with Him, having forgiven us all our trespasses,”

Colossians 2:11-13, RSV.

What is the Soul?

This inner nature can be influenced by both the body and the spirit. It is neither body nor spirit, but a combi-

nation of the two. The inner nature is not natural likethe physical body because of the spirit component. But it

is also not necessarily spiritual because of the presence of



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spirit. We are talking about the personality of a man, that

which is sometimes referred to as his soul. This inner na-ture must be considered trans-natural since it transcends

the natural not being entirely physical.

When we are born this inner nature is dormant or sleep-ing because of sin. As it is influenced by the body which

carries the inherited sin-principle, the inner nature is ledinto more sin which corrupts it further.

Designed for the Gospel

God’s plan is to replace our damaged inner nature with

the nature of His Son. This reconciliation process iscalled the Good News or the Gospel. This healing is ac-

complished through the intervention and intercession ofthe Holy Spirit.

The “old man” which we inherited from Adam must bereplaced by the “new man” which is Christ. See the fol-lowing verses from the New Testament for enlighten-

ment:

“Ye are to put off concerning the former behaviour theold man, that is corrupt according to the desires of the

deceit, and to be renewed in the spirit of your mind, andto put on the new man, which, according to God, was

created in righteousness and kindness of the truth.” Eph-esians 4:22-24, YLT.



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“But now put off, even ye, the whole--anger, wrath, mal-

ice, evil-speaking, filthy talking--out of your mouth. Lienot one to another, having put off the old man with his

practices, and having put on the new, which is renewedin regard to knowledge, after the image of Him who did

create Him;” Colossians 3:8-10, YLT.

“Besides this you know what hour it is, how it is fulltime now for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is

nearer to us now than when we first believed; the night

is far gone, the day is at hand. Let us then cast off theworks of darkness and put on the armor of light; let usconduct ourselves becomingly as in the day, not in revel-

ing and drunkenness, not in debauchery and licentious-ness, not in quarreling and jealousy. But put on the Lord

Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, togratify its desires.” Romans 13:11-14, RSV.

In Colossians 2:11-13, Paul points out that the purpose of

Christ’s circumcision (a cutting away of the flesh) was toenable us to have the power to spiritually overcome the

physical body’s influence. He also tells us that Christ’sbaptism enables us to spiritually bury the body (which is

dead because of sin). Then the verses remind us that we

are enabled to become spiritually alive or born-again be-cause of Christ’s resurrection.

“For we were once ourselves also without intelligence,disobedient, wandering in error, serving various lusts and



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pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, and hating

one another. But when the kindness and love to man ofour Saviour God appeared, not on the principle of works

which have been done in righteousness which *we* haddone, but according to His own mercy He saved us

through the washing of regeneration and renewal of theHoly Spirit,” Titus 3:3-5, Dby.

Is the Soul Immortal?

This inner spiritual nature or soul that has been reborn or

regenerated is not immortal. The eternal life it has is notits own, but Christ’s. In fact, the Bible says the soul willdie if is wicked.

“And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot killthe soul; rather fear Him who can destroy both soul and

body in hell.” Matthew 10:28, RSV.

“Behold, all the souls are Mine; as the soul of the father,so also the soul of the son is Mine: the soul that sinneth,

it shall die.” Ezekiel 18:4, Dby.

If both body and soul are destroyed in hell-fire, then thewicked are not punished forever.

““For behold, the day comes, burning like an oven, whenall the arrogant and all evildoers will be stubble; the day that comes shall burn them up, says the LORD of hosts,

so that it will leave them neither root nor branch.”Malachi 4:1, RSV.



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“You will make them as a blazing oven when you appear.

The LORD will swallow them up in His wrath; and firewill consume them. You will destroy their offspring

from the earth, and their children from among the sons ofmen.” Psalms 21:9,10, RSV.

“Neither their silver nor their gold shall be able to deliver

them on the day of the wrath of the LORD. In the fire ofHis jealous wrath, all the earth shall be consumed; for a

full, yea, sudden end He will make of all the inhabitants

of the earth.” Zephaniah 1:18, RSV.

“His winnowing fork is in His hand, and He will clear

His threshing floor and gather His wheat into the gra-nary, but the chaff He will burn with unquenchable

fire.”” Matthew 3:12, RSV.

“Therefore, as the tongue of fire devours the stubble, and

as dry grass sinks down in the flame, so their root will beas rottenness, and their blossom go up like dust; for they have rejected the law of the LORD of hosts, and have de-

spised the word of the Holy One of Israel.” Isaiah 5:24,RSV.

“Behold, they are like stubble, the fire consumes them;

they cannot deliver themselves from the power of theflame. No coal for warming oneself is this, no fire to sit

before!” Isaiah 47:14, RSV.



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The Resurrection of the Dead

When a person dies, as been noted before, the body re-

turns to the dust and the spirit returns to God who gaveit. The inner nature then goes to sleep until it is resur-

rected. See the following Bible texts:

“Thy dead men shall live, together with my dead body shall they arise. Awake and sing, ye that dwell in dust:

for thy dew is as the dew of herbs, and the earth shallcast out the dead.” Isaiah 26:19, KJV.

“And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth

shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shameand everlasting contempt.” Daniel 12:2, KJV.

“While He yet spake, they come from the ruler of the

synagogue’s house saying, Thy daughter is dead: why

troublest thou the Teacher any further?

But Jesus, not heeding the word spoken, saith unto the

ruler of the synagogue, Fear not, only believe. And Hesuffered no man to follow with him, save Peter, andJames, and John the brother of James.

And they come to the house of the ruler of the syna-

gogue; and He beholdeth a tumult, and many weepingand wailing greatly. And when He was entered in, He

saith unto them, Why make ye a tumult, and weep? thechild is not dead, but sleepeth. And they laughed Him to

scorn. But He, having put them all forth, taketh the father



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of the child and her mother and them that were with

Him, and goeth in where the child was.

And taking the child by the hand, He saith unto her,Talitha cumi; which is, being interpreted, Damsel, I say

unto thee, Arise. And straightway the damsel rose up,and walked; for she was twelve years old. And they were

amazed straightway with a great amazement. And Hecharged them much that no man should know this: and

He commanded that something should be given her to

eat.” Mark 5:35-43, ASV.

“Thus He spoke, and then He said to them, “Our friend

Laz’arus has fallen asleep, but I go to awake him out ofsleep.”

The disciples said to him, “Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he

will recover.” Now Jesus had spoken of his death, but

they thought that He meant taking rest in sleep.

Then Jesus told them plainly, “Laz’arus is dead; and for

your sake I am glad that I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.”” John 11:11-15, RSV.

“Jesus said, “Take away the stone.”

Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to Him, “Lord, by this time there will be an odor, for he has been dead four

days.”



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Jesus said to her, “Did I not tell you that if you would

believe you would see the glory of God?”

So they took away the stone. And Jesus lifted up his eyesand said, “Father, I thank Thee that Thou hast heard Me. I

knew that Thou hearest Me always, but I have said thison account of the people standing by, that they may be-

lieve that Thou didst send Me.”

When He had said this, He cried with a loud voice,“Laz’arus, come out.”

The dead man came out, his hands and feet bound with

bandages, and his face wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said tothem, “Unbind him, and let him go.”” John 11:39-44,

RSV.

Death as Sleep

During this sleep of death, the dead are unconscious untilthey are wakened by the Lord.

“For the living know that they will die, but the dead

know nothing, and they have no more reward; but thememory of them is lost. Their love and their hate and

their envy have already perished, and they have no more

for ever any share in all that is done under the sun.” Ec-clesiastes 9:5,6, RSV.

“For in death there is no remembrance of Thee: in thegrave who shall give Thee thanks?” Psalms 6:5, KJV.



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“Thou prevailest for ever against him, and he passeth:

Thou changest his countenance, and sendest him away.His sons come to honour, and he knoweth it not; and

they are brought low, but he perceiveth it not of them.”Job 14:20,21, KJV.

Where Did Current Beliefs Originate?

The modern concepts of the immortal soul, ghosts, goingdirectly to Heaven or Hell at death are not scriptural. So,

you ask, how did so many religions and denominations

come to teach for doctrine that which disagrees with theBible?

The concept of Heaven and Hell as currently understood

came from Persia. The Jews that were in exile in Babylonlearned these things from followers of Zoroaster. When

they returned home to Israel they brought these concepts

into the thinking of their people. The Jews became di-vided into several groups, the main two being the Phar-isees and the Sadducees. The Pharisees believed the Per-

sian ideas and began incorporating the concepts into whattheir rabbis taught. The Sadducees did not believe in

Heaven and Hell but they began to doubt the resurrection

that the Scriptures taught. This was the state of Judaismwhen Christ began His ministry. The Jews also had be-liefs about angels that were not in accordance with the

Scriptures. These ideas and others were developed in the



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time between the close of the Old Testament writings

and the beginning of New Testament history.

When Christianity began to be formalized into a religionafter the deaths of the apostles, the keeping of the Scrip-

tures passed first to the Greeks and then to the Romans.Both groups accepted the Persian concepts and added

some details from the works of the Greek philosophers. Itwas from the writings of Socrates, Plato, Philo and others

that the concept of the immortal soul crept into religious

thinking. Later these ideas became more widespreadthrough not only the churches and synagogues, but alsothrough pieces of fiction, most notably Dante’s Inferno and

two works by John Milton: Paradise Lost and Paradise Re-

gained.

How Scripture was Misinterpreted

Here and there, throughout the Bible are verses that havebeen used to support these spurious ideas, but theseverses have been wrested from their original meaning and

understood in the context of a pre-conceived notion thatthese unscriptural concepts were correct. They were

assumed to be correct because they were taught by the

churches and they had become part of the fabric of whatwas believed traditionally.

In order to determine the original concepts taught by theScriptures, theologians use a rule of exegesis called the

preponderance of evidence. In layman’s terms this would



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be called the weight of evidence. For example: if there are

fifty verses on a subject in the Bible and forty-five of theverses agree with each other, the five verses that don’t

agree are then interpreted on the basis of the forty-fivethat agree.

In reality, the opposite has occurred: the five verses that

didn’t agree with the body of scriptural evidence havebeen matched up with ideas from the aforementioned

other sources and the forty-five verses have been reinter-

preted according to the five that agreed with the unscrip-tural sources.

The end result is that today many churches are teachingmythology instead of truth, but it has been going on for

so many centuries that the churches refuse to see their er-ror. They can’t believe that what they have been teaching

for so long could be wrong.These incorrect views have been held for such a long timethat the beliefs have become almost universal. Today, fic-

tion, movies, even cartoons portray these concepts as the“truth” that most people accept.

Why the Great Deception?

Satan’s plan was to have people deceived regarding these

matters, because he did not want people to understandhow they were to be saved. He wanted them to believe a

plan of his own devising. Satan desired folk to believe it



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necessary to save themselves for the most part. He also

wanted people to believe that God was cruel and unfair.He wanted people to be confused between what the

churches taught and what the Bible taught. He wantedpeople divided about spiritual matters. He wanted the

churches involved in the problem instead of the solution.He worked behind the scenes constructing this false view

of salvation. He got people to mix their ideas and his withwhat the Scripture taught until the whole world was de-

ceived.

What Satan Achieved

Since people would be born and live their lives without

the knowledge of their dormant spiritual nature, they would not understand their own sinfulness, they would

not seem wicked to themselves.

Salvation would be accomplished by a series of goodworks done by the person in order to please God. As aperson began to accumulate more good deeds than bad

ones, they would become satisfied that they were makingspiritual progress. All would become convinced that be-

cause no one is perfect, all that is required is to do the

best that you can.The deep spiritual matters would be left un-discovered.

People would have eyes, but they would be unable to see.They would have ears but be unable to hear.



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Because they believed they would go to Heaven or Hell at

death based on their deeds, they would not be concernedabout the Judgment or the Resurrection. Because they

believed the soul was immortal they would believe thatGod would allow evil-doers to be punished and tor-

mented for eternity. If the soul is immortal then lovedones in Heaven would be conscious and aware of what

transpires on earth. People would believe that upon enter-ing Heaven they would become angels.

The Truth

People need to understand what the Scriptures actually teach about salvation. They have to understand their need

of a relationship with Christ. We are saved by Christ’smerits not our own merits. Christ needs to become our

life if we are to be saved. Since we are made in God’s im-

age, we are saved through that design.Our dormant spiritual natures that are dead through sinmust be crucified by the power of Christ’s crucifixion,

and buried by the power of His baptism, and we must behidden in Christ by the power of His ascension. Through

the power of His resurrection, we must be made alive

again by His indwelling us by the Spirit. We must abidein Him and He must abide in us. In this way we are bothsaved by Him and perfected by Him

This power that we receive from Christ and His blessed

acts is obtained through faith in the promises contained



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in them. These were promises of victory to believers to

overcome sin and death.

This relationship with Christ must be sustained by faithon a daily basis. As we believe entirely in His promises

we are saved from day to day.

We must not become absorbed in the world or its prac-tices for we are here as Christ’s ambassadors. Our mis-

sion is to tell as many people as possible the truth aboutChrist, His love and His plan for saving us.

As Christ’s second coming approaches quickly and

Judgment is around the corner, we must be in this savingrelationship with Him. Even if we die before the second

coming, our relationship with Him will save us. Nothingelse can save us.

The Two ResurrectionsGod saves our inner natures, the outer natures are corrupt

and must be replaced by a miracle at the resurrection.The sinful body that was always your potential downfall

is done away with and you are given a glorious body likeHis. Even those believers that are still alive at the second

coming will be changed, in the twinkling of an eye, fromcorruption to incorruption. This is what happens at the

first resurrection at the time of the second coming. Thisresurrection is only for those who are saved.



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The second resurrection is for the wicked, those who re-

fused the relationship with Christ, because they thoughtit unnecessary, or because they took pleasure in sinning.

In these folk the sinful inner nature was not replaced by Christ’s life, and because they did not accept His death in

their place they must die for their own sins. Unfortu-nately, these are resurrected to hear the judgment against

them for their evil deeds and they are cast into the lakeof fire prepared for Satan and his angels and they all,

along with sin and death are destroyed in the fire.

Postscript

You have a part to play in saving the people of the world.

This is what God designed you for, this is your destiny.God gave you free will so that you could choose to serve

Him instead of sin. You can be saved and you can warn

others so that they can be saved. If you do not exercise your free will you will be lost and others will be lost be-

cause you did not warn them.

It is my prayer that this booklet will help you to choosethe right path, to choose Christ as your Savior and that

you will become part of the process of reconciliation for

others. In Christ’s name and power I ask it.“For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole

world, and lose his own soul? Or what shall a man givein exchange for his soul?” Mark 8:36,37, KJV.



Bible Versions Used

KJV: King James Version

RSV: Revised Standard Version

ASV: American Standard Version

Dby: Darby’s Translation

YLT: Young’s Literal Translation

Body, Soul and Spirit - Designed for the Gospel

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