THE ONLINE SEMINAR
How to Have the Living Water of Peace, Hope,
and Purpose that Jesus Promised Us
Session Two: Our Soul
Part 2
The early Christians taught that all people have invisible, transparent spirits living inside them. They taught that these inner spirits came from God and are the power that give life to our bodies. Without our spirits, our bodies would die. However, our spirits themselves live forever, and when our bodies die, our spirits return to God for judgment or rewards.
As evidence that these inner spirits really exist in people, let’s look at two cases from the ancient Christian medical records of the First Century. Here’s the first case.
In 60 AD, a Christian writer named Dr. Lucus (he was a medical doctor and an apostle
“‘My child, get up.’ Immediately the girl’s spirit returned, and she got up
and ate some food.”[2. Adapted from Luke, chapter 8, verses 49-55.]
Now, we could say many things about this amazing story. But the principle we need to see is that the little girl was dead when her spirit left her body – and that she came back to life when her spirit returned to her body. That’s clear evidence that our inner spirits give life to our bodies and that our bodies die when our spirits leave them. Now, let’s take one more case from the ancient medical files of Dr. Lucus. Here’s the second case.
A year later (in 61 AD), Dr. Lucus recorded another incident that shows we have an inner spirit, that our inner spirit gives us life, and that our spirit returns to God when we die. In this case, an early Christian deacon named Steven lived in Jerusalem, Israel at the time.
Steven was highly Spiritual and his full-time call to Christian service was to deliver hot meals to the Christian widows of the city. He did his job with great enthusiasm and his bold words and Spiritual behavior often offended the non-Christians of the city. Finally, one day the non-Christians lost their tempers with Steven, grabbed large rocks, and began to stone him. Here’s how Dr. Lucus recorded what happened next:
“While they were stoning him, Steven prayed, ‘Lord Jesus, take up my
spirit.’ Then he fell to his knees and went to sleep.”[3. Adapted from Acts, chapter 7, verses 59-60.]
Again, we could say many things about this tragic story. But the Spiritual principles we need to see are that Steven, as a First Century Christian, knew he had an inner spirit; and knew that his spirit would leave his body and return to God when he died. So, as he fell to his knees under the impact of the stones, he prayed for God to receive his spirit in heaven.
Now, it’s important to realize that these early Christian teachings about people’s inner spirits were a major theme in First, Second, and Third Century Christian writing. We continuously see sentences in the early Christian letters that say things like: “A body without the spirit is dead.”[4. Adapted from James, chapter 2, verse 26.] And, “He bowed His head and gave up His spirit.”[5. Adapted from John, chapter 19, verse 30.] And, “My spirit rejoices in God.”[6. Adapted from Luke, chapter 1, verse 47.]
To summarize, here’s what we’ve said thus far: All people have immortal spirits inside them. These spirits came from God. These spirits give life to our bodies. And when we die, these spirits return to God. But, what about our “souls”? Where do our “souls” fit this picture? Let’s find out.
In early Christian writing, the words “soul” and “spirit” mean the same thing. They’re synonyms (interchangeable words) in the early Christian letters.
In the Greek language of the First Century, the word for “soul” is psuche’ (pronounced “sue-hay'”) – and like the Greek word for spirit (pneuma), the word psuche’ also means something that’s invisible or transparent. Also like the Greek word for spirit, the word psuche’ can be translated as life, breath, soul, or spirit, depending on the intent of the sentence in which it’s used.
It’s also helpful to remember that the early Christian letters we’re quoting in this seminar were written in different centuries, in different cities, by different writers, with different personalities, in different cultures. Because of those differences, some early Christian writers used the word “spirit” in their letters. Others used the word “soul.” And still others used both the words “spirit” and “soul.” However, in every case where an early Christian writer uses the word “soul” in this way, the writer is referring to the inner spirit in us that’s immortal; that came from God; and that returns to God when we die.
Therefore, to keep this seminar simple, let’s standardize on which word we’re going to use. From now on, let’s only use the word spirit to talk about that invisible inner part of us that gives life to our bodies and that returns to God when we die.
This means that as we move forward in the seminar, if we have a quote from an early Christian letter that uses the word “soul,” we’ll standardize by replacing it with the word spirit. Then, to notify readers that we’ve standardized a term, we’ll put parentheses around the word spirit in the sentence. For an example, if an early Christian letter said, “My ‘soul’ praises the Lord,” we would write it this way: “My (spirit) praises the Lord.” (We have such a standardization coming in Part 3, so watch for it.)
Right now, it’s time to see the most important principle in Session Two. That principle is the role our inner spirits play in Spiritual growth. And strangely enough, Spiritual growth always begins with Spiritual death. We’ll discuss that unusual idea next. Let’s turn to Part 3.
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