The Spirit in Man

Over the past months, I have mentioned that all humans have a spirit (a spiritual component) which we generally call the spirit in man. Each time I have mentioned it as part of a different topic I have said something like “that’s a subject for another sermon”. Today, I would like to do just that.

There are plenty of scriptures (OT & NT) that speak of a spirit in all humans… but what spirit? It is not the Spirit of God because scripture is very clear that not everyone has the Spirit of God (the Holy Spirit) in them. The Holy Spirit of God is a special condition which sets some people apart and designates them for a special purpose.

What Are Some Go-To Scriptures?

Genesis 2:7 this could be our first indication that God added a spiritual component to humans. The word is Nahshawma… the word is generally used to indicate something like the life force… or the presence of life in a person. It is used elsewhere to indicate a spirit component but not always. So, we need to add some additional scriptures to get a more clear picture…

Proverbs 16:2 the word used here is roo-ak which is more consistently used to indicate a spirit… roo-ak is also used to indicate something as mundane as a breeze… but usually, it refers to God’s spirit. (discuss words that serve double duty – use example of BEAR – we have to determine meaning based on context) This verse is referring to a spirit, but not God’s Holy Spirit… why would God need to evaluate His own spirit? The most logical conclusion is that it is referring to a spiritual component built into humans which God evaluates and judges.

Zechariah 12:1 the spiritual component is:

1. An element of humans, it is in them, part of them, but not the entirety of what they are (we are a total being consisting of body, mind, and spirit)
2. A created thing, not an immortal or eternal spirit come to live temporarily in a body of flesh, learn some lessons, and then return back to its pure spiritual state… an idea found in new-agey Hinduism, Mormonism, and the Gnosticism that infiltrated the first century Church of God.

Ecclesiastes 12:7 following up on the concept of YOU… the created being… when you die your body breaks down… your mind stops operating… and that spirit component returns to God. That spirit does not have life of itself (Eccl 9:5, Psalm 146:4).

We See The Spirit in Humans Exists But What is It Doing?

Job 32:8 now we see the spirit in man doing something… giving us understanding!

But what kind of understanding? Humans understand how to split an atom… we understand how to build a house… shoot an orange ball through a little hoop. Is that the kind of understanding we are talking about or is there more?

There are two kinds of knowledge… humans need both.

First: we have knowledge that comes via the senses, what our brains can take in through our eyes, ears, fingertips, noses, taste buds… Through our senses, we learn how to deal with matter, things… to split atoms, build houses, shoot hoops. This way of gathering information is built into human beings… and we are rather good at it. So good at it that God has to hold us back and restrain us:  Gen 11:4-8

Second: there is knowledge about how to deal with relationships… our relationship with God… and our relationship to our fellow human beings. This knowledge is spiritual type knowledge… we don’t take it in through our eyes, ears, nose, hand or mouth. We take spiritual knowledge in through the spirit we have built into us… the human spirit…  

Our senses are how we interact with the physical world around us… our spirit is how we interact with the spiritual world around us.

What Does This Have to Do With Pentecost?

There are lots of spiritual forces at work all around us, some good and some bad. Today [Pentecost] we are interested in one above all others… the H.S. of God. Because it is on Pentecost day A.D. 31 that God first poured out His H.S. upon the Church of God. We remember the event as a part of human history…. And a remembrance of an event in our own lives,  our personal receipt of the Holy Spirit… in us… empowering us… strengthening us… giving us courage.

Two Ways the Holy Spirit Interacts With Our Spirit

First: the H.S. is the actual power of God present in us… the same power by which He will raise us from the dead at the time of resurrection. We have (or can have) that power in us now as a sort of down payment on what is to come. Without this power of life within us… we do not have an eternal future.

Second: the H.S. gives us understanding and knowledge of spiritual things which we take in not through the physical sensors built into our bodies, eyes, ears, nose etc. we take this spiritual knowledge in through the human spirit that is in us. This understanding… how to relate to God… how to relate to fellow humans.. this understanding is the stuff of eternal life… without it we are simply not prepared for… and will not receive… eternal life.

Humans Are Created Incomplete

We are created in the image of God but temporary, not everlasting…. A representation of God that is physical rather than spiritual… treasures in jars of clay… a clay model of God, designed to take on the spiritual character of the Father and the spiritual power of the Father and to be transformed through resurrection into the real deal… a spirit born child of God.

The church has used the analogy of human conception and birth to help explain the way the H.S. works with your human spirit to bring about that new creation. It’s a great analogy!

There was an OVUM  in your mother that would someday become YOU. But it was incomplete. It did not have that spark of life in it or anything that would last beyond about 28 days before it “died” and was flushed out of your mother’s system. Also, it only had HALF the information needed to form YOU. We think of that information in terms of DNA and chromosomes… the ovum only had 50% of what was necessary.

There was also a SPERM cell in your father that would someday become YOU. It didn’t have any form of life energy in it beyond a few hours. It too only carried half of the necessary information needed to become YOU.

Nowadays, we all know from sex education class that the sperm cell unites with (or impregnates) the ovum. Then an amazing process begins… within your mother’s womb, you began to live, you began to grow, cells split and replicate, organs form… then, when you reached the appropriate stage of physical maturity, you were born into the world and took your first breath of air.

To me, the analogy is even better now that we have increased understanding of DNA. DNA is best described as a set of information… all the instructions and processes needed to create physical life. The ovum and the sperm cell each contains only half the DNA information. When they join together that DNA is joined together and becomes one… and that combination became YOU.

A human with body, mind, and their spirit is like that ovum that must be germinated, impregnated, begotten, etc. by the Holy Spirit which enters into you and completes you… adding the missing ingredients for eternal life:

• That spark of, (or power of) eternal life
• The missing information you need to become a spirit born child of God.

Go-To Scriptures From NT

1 Corinthians 6:17 the larger context here is human sexuality and an expression of oneness and joining together. That oneness is compared to, and contrasted with, the union we can have with God… a man who is joined to a woman is one flesh with her… a man who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with Him.

Romans 8:16 another great one! Describes both the spirit in a person and the spirit of God in that same person… and both of these spirits actively engaged and transmitting information… witness = summartureo… to testify jointly, to collaborate using the same set of evidence (information), to testify or speak to…

1 Corinthians 2:9-16 the ultimate go-to scripture on the subject! Provides a more full picture of the H.S. working with the spirit in a person to accomplish understanding (note: not just giving information… that is not enough. There must also be understanding… which comes from the H.S. convincing us, convicting us of the truth). Plus, God’s word here is that you are receiving a total package not generally available to humanity at large. Many outside the Church of God have received the information… but usually, lack complete understanding… most of humanity never even get the information.

As the Church of God teaches at various other times and places… their day is not now but it will come.

The time for YOU is now.

The day to remember the H.S. which was first poured out upon the Church of God is today, Pentecost.

The day to reflect upon the work the H.S. is accomplishing in you… is today, Pentecost 2016.

Ephesians 4:7-13 grow up into the complete (fully formed) person…. Into the full maturity of Christ.