THE ONLINE SEMINAR
How to Have the Living Water of Peace, Hope,
and Purpose that Jesus Promised Us
Session Two: Our Soul
Part 3
Our next principle isn’t pleasant and we’ll add more details to it as we move along. But the simple fact is that, in their original condition, our inner spirits are Spiritually dead. Said another way: In their original condition at human birth, our inner spirits have no power to motivate us Spiritually to enjoy supernatural experiences, gifts, and emotions.
Said still another way: In their original condition at human birth, our inner spirits can’t protect us from the loneliness, depression, fear, hate, lust, greed, envy, and selfishness that the 2,400 psychiatrists discussed in San Francisco, as we reported in Session One.
To say it one last way: In their original condition at human birth, our inner spirits can’t prevent us from doing what the early Christian writers called “sinning” (doing harmful things to ourselves and others).
Let’s pause to see an example of this principle. Here’s what one of the most famous of the early Christian writers said about the deadness of our inner spirit in its original condition. The writer’s name was Paul,
“You were dead in your sins when you followed the ways of this world.
All of us lived that way at one time, gratifying the cravings of our selfish
nature and following its desires and thoughts like the rest of humankind.
We were by our very natures objects of God’s anger.”[2. Adapted from Ephesians, chapter 2, verses 1 and 3. Paul is repeating a basic Christian principle that he taught in his school at Ephesus, Turkey for three years between 54 AD and 57 AD.]
Now, notice the word “dead” in the first sentence of Paul’s letter and remember that he was writing to living Christians in the city of Ephesus. He wasn’t writing to the headstones in the Ephesus cemetery. So – how could his readers have been dead earlier in their lives, and then be alive again to read Paul’s letter?
The answer is simple. Paul was saying that his readers were Spiritually “dead” before they became Christians. The First Century Greek word the Paul used here for “dead” is nekros (pronounced “nay-crahss'”), which means Spiritually dead – not physically dead.
Later in that same letter, again reminding his readers that their inner spirits were Spiritually dead before they became Christians, Paul quotes a First Century Christian hymn. It was a hymn that the early Christians sang at water-baptism celebrations, during which new Christians immersed themselves in water to symbolize to their family and friends that their inner spirits had been immersed in Spiritual power and awakened to Spiritual life. Here are the words Paul quoted:
“Arouse, oh sleeper,
Rise up from the dead;
And Christ will give you Light.”[3. Adapted from Ephesians, chapter 5, verse 14. This one of the few surviving examples of a First Century Christian song.]
Notice the word “dead” again in the second sentence. Once again, it’s the First Century Greek word nekros, meaning Spiritually dead – not physically dead. With this hymn, early Christians sang to the inner spirits of new Christians, celebrating the fact that their inner spirits were “arousing” from Spiritual “death” and were beginning the process of Spiritual growth. (The word “Light” in the hymn refers to Spiritual growth through the indwelling of Christ. We’ll discuss indwelling in great detail later.)
Now, these early Christian teachings about our inner spirits raise some vitally important questions. Such as: What happens if our spirits don’t wake up? And how do our spirits wake up? And how are we different after our spirits wake up?
These are urgent questions for us, our families, and our friends. That’s why the goal of this Internet Seminar is to answer all of these questions slowly, carefully, and completely. However, we can’t do that in only one or two sessions. These questions are too important to be treated lightly. So the upcoming sessions are dedicated to answering all these questions fully. That means we have some exciting pages ahead.
But right now, let’s summarize Session Two, “Our Soul,” with a quote from one of the most surprising and interesting letters ever written by the early Christians.
In 117 AD, a Christian elder in Athens, Greece named Quadratus (pronounced “quah-drah’-tuss”) wrote one of the most beautiful Christian letters ever written. Quadratus had known some of Jesus’s original twelve apostles and had studied under them. As a youth, he might even have studied under the apostle Paul because Paul had taught in Athens some 50 years earlier.
Quadratus’s letter was addressed to the Roman emperor Hadrian (“hay’-dree-un”). Hadrian was studying Christianity at the time, trying to figure out why Christians had so few worldly cares and weren’t afraid to die. Thus, trying to help Hadrian understand Christianity, here’s what Quadratus wrote to him:
“Christians find themselves in the flesh, but they don’t live according to
the flesh. Christians spend their days on earth, but their citizenship is
in heaven. They rejoice because they are quickened into life. To explain
it briefly: Our (spirit) is spread throughout all the parts of our body.
Our (spirit) dwells in our body, but is not part of it. Our (spirit) is invisible,
but is in a visible body. Our flesh, though not at all wronged by our
(spirit), hates our (spirit), and makes war on it because our (spirit) keeps our
flesh from indulging its passions. But our (spirit) loves the flesh that
hates it. Our (spirit) is the very thing that holds our body together.
Our (spirit) is immortal, but it’s lodged in a mortal tenement. Christians,
though residing as strangers among corruptible things, look forward to the
incorruptibility that awaits them in Heaven. Such is the important post
to which God has assigned them, and it’s not right for them to desert it.”[4. Adapted from the Letter to Diognetus, sentences from chapters 5 and 6, edited for easy readership. This letter is one of the most brilliant and beautiful pieces of Christian writing ever penned. Written in 117 AD by Quadratus (“quah-drah’-tuss”), an elder in the city of Athens, the letter hoped to explain Christianity to the Roman emperor Hadrian (“hay’-dree-un”). We don’t know if the letter succeeded or whether the emperor ever became a Christian.]
Special note: Due to his Greek culture, Quadratus actually used the word “soul” in his letter. But, as agreed earlier in this session, we standardized the quote by substituting the word spirit for Quadratus’s word “soul” throughout the letter.
This incredible early Christian letter is one of the clearest and most specific letters ever written about the role of the inner spirit in Christians. It amounts to a complete lesson on the principles of Spiritual growth, even touching on the Spiritual warfare that rages inside all Christians. (We’ll discuss that Spiritual war in a later session.)
Next, using Quadratus’s amazing letter, together with Paul’s letters that we quoted earlier, we can now summarize all that we’ve said in this session with six clear facts. Here they are.
1. All of us have an inner spirit in our body that gives it life.
2. Our inner spirit is immortal – it came from God and will return to God.
3. Our inner spirit is invisible and is spread throughout our body.
4. Our inner spirit is Spiritually “dead” before we become a Christian.
5. When we become a Christian, our inner spirit is “aroused” from its “sleep”
and is given the potential to motivate us Spiritually.
6. Our “flesh” (our selfish human nature) “hates” our inner spirit and makes
“war” on it because our spirit wants to prevent our flesh from “indulging”
in its selfish “passions.”
Now, this six-fact summary is important because our inner spirit is the key to becoming a Christian and also the key to experiencing Spiritual experiences, gifts, and emotions. And now we’re ready to complete the First Circle on The Three Circles diagram.
As we said earlier, the First Circle represents our “soul.” However, we’ve agreed to standardize these sessions by substituting the word spirit for the word “soul,” and so we’ve listing the word “soul” as a synonym in parentheses under the word spirit. Thus, the First Circle now looks like this:
Next, we have another interesting question: Where does our human mind fit with the principles of Spiritual motivation? Where is it on the diagram? Let’s discuss the human mind next, in Session Three.
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