Angelic Conflict part 171: Human history (soul and spirit) – Heb 4:12; 1Co 15:35-49; 2Co 4:15-18; 5:1-10; Rom 8:1-25.

Title: Angelic Conflict part 171: Human history (soul and spirit) - HEB 4:12; 1CO 15:35-49; 2CO 4:15-18; 5:1-10; ROM 8:1-25.  

 

ROM 8:15 For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, "Abba! Father!"

 

ROM 8:16 The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God,

 

ROM 8:17 and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him in order that we may also be glorified with Him.

 

ROM 8:18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us.

 

The suffering is temporary. There is an end in sight in which our resurrected senses will drink up the glory of God, which cannot be compared to the suffering of the present time. So until that time are you willing to fight the flesh, the world, and the KOD with the surpassing power of God and be diligent to enter His rest?

 

When God finished His Creation, it was a good Creation (GEN 1:31); but today it is a groaning Creation. There is suffering and death; there is pain, all of which is, of course, the result of Adam's sin. It is not the fault of creation. Note the words that Paul used to describe, the plight of creation: suffering (ROM 8:18), futility (ROM 8:20), slavery (ROM 8:21), corruption [decay] (ROM 8:21), and pain (ROM 8:22).

 

However, this groaning is not a useless thing - Paul compared it to a woman in travail. There is pain, but the pain will end when the child is delivered. One day creation will be delivered, and the groaning creation will become a glorious creation; not just good but glorious!

 

The positive believer perseveres in today's sufferings; knowing that he can look forward to the fruits of labor pains.

 

Pain and suffering are necessary for the fallen creature to learn to appreciate and desire that which is holy. Today's groaning bondage will be exchanged for tomorrow's glorious liberty!

 

2CO 4:15 For all things are for your sakes, that the grace which is spreading to more and more people may cause the giving of thanks to abound to the glory of God.

 

Being thankful, no matter what the circumstances, brings glory to God.

 

2CO 4:16 Therefore we do not lose heart [the Bible uses this phrase for those who quit because of too much pressure], but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day.

 

2CO 4:17 For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison,

 

While vs. 17 refers to the inheritance it also refers to the recognition of God's glory in time and the desire to pursue it.

 

2CO 4:18 while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.

 

ROM 8:18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us.

 

The radiance of God's glory will place current sufferings in its shadow and completely overwhelm any experienced pain.

 

ROM 8:19 For the anxious longing [watching eagerly with an outstretched head] of the creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God [the Rapture openly reveals all the sons and daughters of the RFOG].

 

ROM 8:20 For the creation was subjected to futility, not of its own will, but because of Him who subjected it [allowing the fall], in hope

 

ROM 8:21 that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God.

 

God's confident expectation was that the curse upon the creation would be set free at the same time as His children.

 

ROM 8:22 For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now [same curse as the woman].

 

ROM 8:23 And not only this, but also we ourselves, having the first fruits of the Spirit [we are Christ's harvest], even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body.

 

JOH 16:20-22

"Truly, truly, I say to you, that you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice; you will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will be turned to joy. "Whenever a woman is in travail she has sorrow, because her hour has come; but when she gives birth to the child, she remembers the anguish no more, for joy that a child has been born into the world. "Therefore you too now have sorrow; but I will see you again, and your heart will rejoice, and no one takes your joy away from you.

 

ROM 8:24 For in hope [happy expectation of future deliverance] we have been saved, but hope that is seen is not hope; for why does one also hope for what he sees?

 

ROM 8:25 But if we hope for what we do not see, with perseverance [hupomone; to remain under] we wait eagerly for it.

 

1CO 15:42 So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown [much nicer than buried] a perishable body, it is raised an imperishable body;

 

1CO 15:43 it is sown in dishonor [state of humiliation subject to disease, injury, and decay], it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power;

 

1CO 15:44 it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body.

 

1CO 15:45 So also it is written, "The first man, Adam, became a living soul." The last Adam became a life-giving spirit.

 

Adam became, at the fall, a living soul and therefore was either possessing a dead spirit or no spirit. It is clear that unbelievers are influenced by the spirits that we have noted - fear, slavery, slumber, jealousy, and error. Adam lost his ability to commune with God, which was restored in a different way after the animal sacrifice that the Lord performed for him. However, now, the last Adam has become a life giving spirit, which is far more powerful and intimate with God then the first Adam could have ever dreamed.

 

The resurrected spiritual body just like His, suited for the new divine spirit, is the fruit of our union with the last Adam.

 

1CO 15:46 However, the spiritual is not first, but the natural; then the spiritual.

 

This states an important biblical principle: first the "natural" (earthly), and then the "spiritual" (heavenly). The first birth gives us that which is natural, but the second birth gives us that which is spiritual. God rejects the first birth, the natural, and says, "You must be born again!" He rejected Cain and chose Abel. He rejected Abraham's firstborn, Ishmael, and chose Isaac, the second-born. He rejected Esau and chose Jacob.

 

If we depend on our first birth, we shall be cursed, but if we experience the new birth, we shall be blessed.

 

1CO 15:47 The first man is from the earth, earthy; the second man is from heaven.

 

Even in perfection, Adam had an earthly body and so he was earthly and was destined to remain on the earth eternally by eating from the tree of life. His fall resulted in spiritual death and subsequently physical death. The last Adam, from heaven, our Lord Jesus Christ brought the heavenly to mankind by defeating death and all who believe upon Him are born-again to a spiritual life that is destined for a spiritual body that is flesh and bone but eternally adapted to heaven.

 

As Adam was the federal head of earthly mankind so now the Last Adam is the federal head of spiritual mankind.

 

Hence there is a new birth at salvation. The believer in Christ is no longer in Adam.

 

1CO 15:48 As is the earthy, so also are those who are earthy; and as is the heavenly, so also are those who are heavenly.

 

COL 3:1-4

If then you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth. For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory.

 

1CO 15:49 And just as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly.

 

This inspires Biblical hope that cannot disappoint since no one is more powerful than the last Adam who will transform our humble bodies into ones that are in conformity with His own. However, we are not to have our heads in heaven to the extent that we fail to produce fruit on earth. We have been commissioned as adopted sons and daughters to live spiritually despite the condition of the world and our flesh.

 

2CO 5:1 For we know that if the earthly tent which is our house is torn down, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.

 

2CO 5:2 For indeed in this house we groan, longing to be clothed with our dwelling from heaven;

 

2CO 5:3 inasmuch as we, having put it on, shall not be found naked.

 

2CO 5:4 For indeed while we are in this tent, we groan, being burdened, because we do not want to be unclothed, but to be clothed, in order that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life.

 

2CO 5:5 Now He who prepared us for this very purpose is God, who gave to us the Spirit as a pledge.

 

2CO 5:6 Therefore, being always of good courage, and knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord — 

 

2CO 5:7 for we walk by faith, not by sight — 

 

2CO 5:8 we are of good courage, I say, and prefer rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord.

 

2CO 5:9 Therefore also we have as our ambition, whether at home or absent, to be pleasing to Him.

 

2CO 5:10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.

 

HEB 4:12 For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

 

The joints and marrow refer to deep thoughts and motivations. Nothing is hidden from God and His word will reveal to you even your innermost thoughts and motivations.

 

"judge" - kritiko,j[kritikos] = fit for or skilled in judging, discerning, or critiquing.

 

"thoughts" - evnqu,mhsij[enthumesis] = the content of thinking or reasoning.

 

"intentions" - e;nnoia[ennoia] = that which is intended or purposed as a result of thinking. Design or application.

 

And so finally, these thoughts and the purposed results of them are described as being in the heart. Let us define the Biblical usage of the term heart.