blacksheep wrote:
The Bible reveals that human personhood, made in the image of God, is a triunity involving the components of spirit, soul, and body (I Thes. 5:23).
God formed Adam out of the dust of the ground (body) and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life (spirit), and he became “a living soul” (Gen. 2:7). God intended that by eating of the tree of life and by obeying His command not to eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, humankind would never die but would live forever (Gen. 3:P22). Only after death entered the world as a result of human sin do we read about the separation of a person into the dust of the earth and the spirit, which returns to God (Gen. 3:19; Eccl. 12:7). In other words, the separation of the body from the spirit and soul is the results of God’s curse on the human race because of sin and will eventually be remedied only at the resurrection of the body on the last day. The resurrection of the body is an important and essential doctrine in the Scriptures. It refers to God’s raising of a body from the dead and reuniting it with the person’s soul and spirit, from which it was separated (I Cor. 15:51-53).
The soul (Heb. nephesh; Gk. psyche) may be briefly defined as the nonmaterial aspects of mind, emotions, senses, and will in human personhood that result from the union of spirit and body. The soul along with the human spirit will continue to live when an individual physically dies. The soul is so closely linked with one’s inner personhood that it is sometimes used as a synonym for “person” (Acts 7:20). The body (Heb. basar; Gk. soma) may be briefly defined as that material element in an individual that returns to the dust when he or she dies (sometimes also called “flesh”). The spirit (Heb. ruach; Gk. pneuma) may be briefly defined as the nonmaterial life component of the human being, wherein resides our spiritual capacity and conscience; that aspect is the one whereby we are most in contact with God’s Spirit.
Of the three components that constitute the “whole” of human personhood, only the spirit and soul are indestructible and survive death, either to live in heaven (Rev. 20:4) or in hell (Lk. 16:22-23). However, the Bible is insistent that as long as we are alive, believers must take good care of their bodies by keeping them free from immorality and evil (I Cor. 6: 13-20) and by dedicating them to the service of God (Rom. 12:1-2).
honest_lifter wrote:
I do have a couple questions.
blacksheep wrote:
The Bible reveals that human personhood, made in the image of God, is a triunity involving the components of spirit, soul, and body (I Thes. 5:23)
honest_lifter asked:
What is the context that this is taken from? What is Paul talking about at the time?
blacksheep’s reply:
This was Paul’s final prayer for the Thessalonian believers in that they be santified, in spirit, soul, and body, the make-up of the human personhood. Here, Paul was alluding to the fact that the human personhood is , as I stated earlier, a triunity involving the components of spirit, soul, and body.
blacksheep wrote:
only the spirit and soul are indestructible and survive death, either to live in heaven (Rev. 20:4) or in hell (Lk. 16:22-23)
honest_lifter asked:
That quote from Luke, refering to a hell. What word does your Bible use for hell? The original Greek used there is Hades.
blacksheep’s reply:
Hades, though the original word is uncertain. It may have developed from the greek verb idein (“to see”) with an alpha prefix which has a negating effect (i.e., “unseen” or “invisible”). Perhaps it was originally associated with aianes (“dreary, horrid”) and described a condition full of fear, hopelessness, and evil influences. In the Septuagint hades almost always stands as the translation of the Hebrew sheol, which probably comes either from shaal, a word meaning “to ask, examine, investigate,” or from shoal, meaning “hollow,” or “hollow hand.”
It was particularly associated with the place of the dead. However, this should not give the impression that sheol is identical with grave in the meaning of tomb. If “grave” is taken as an expression for the state after death, such a translation is quite adequate and close to what the O.T. means with sheol. But that is certainly not so if grave is understood literly as the tomb. In fact, of the more than 50 occurrences of sheol in the O.T. which are translated in the Septuagint by hades, there is not one which needs to be translated tomb or grave, and hardly one which should be. A glance at a concordance will show how utterly different sheol is from grave or tomb.
Sheol is the place where man has to go when dying (Gen. 42:38; 44:29,31). The hope of redemption from sheol is closely connected with the resurrection belief which can be traced through the O.T. Daniel even spoke of a resurrection to life and a ressurection to judgment (Dan. 12:2). From this background later Judaism began to work out a theology which thought of sheol as an interim time and place. Here the unrighteous dead remained under punishment until the resurrection, while the righteous were in another section expecting the resurrection to life (Luke 16:19-31).
As we can see, in the O.T. sheol is the realm of the dead, the afterlife. This O.T. usage of sheol gives the main background for the N.T. meaning of hades. Hades is a place which is “down” in contrast to heaven which is “up” (Luke 10:15). It is the place where the soul goes (Acts 2:27), while the body is destroyed (Acts 2:31).
In the story of Lazarus and the Rich Man (Luke 16:15-31), Jesus made a close distinction between the two conditions in hades. Lazarus was in “the bosom of Abraham” (Luke 16:22-23), where he was being comforted, while the rich man was at the “place of agony” (Luke 16:23-24), where he was suffering.
It is remarkable that nowhere in the N.T. is it said that the believer who dies goes to hades; but it is said that he goes to be with the Lord (II Cor. 5:8; Phil. 1:23). Christ is not in hades today, neither are those who have gone to be with christ.
Hades is the interim prison where the wicked dead are held until judgment day. It should be understood as distinct from Gehenna, which is the lake of fire. In the end both death and hades are cast into the lake of fire (Rev. 20:14).
honest_lifter wrote:
Additionally, from my understand and reasoning on that parable that Jesus used in Luke about the rich man and lazarus, he is not really talking about a burning hell. There are a couple reasons i say that:
- It never says that the rich man did any evil things; it also never says that Lazarus did any good things.
blacksheep’s reply:
The fact that the rich man knew Lazarus’ name indicated that he had been familiar with his plight in the previous life. He did nothing to ease Lazarus’ suffering, thus, he came under the condemnation of “everlasting fire” and “everlasting punishment” (Matt. 25:41-46).
In contrast to the rich man, Lazarus was the only person named in a parable of Jesus. The name Lazarus was a shortened form of Eleazar meaning “he whom God helps.” This parable illustrates Mary’s prophecy that Jesus’ ministry would humble the rich and exalt the poor and humble (Matt. 1:51-53). Lazarus represents the many poor and humble people that Jesus came to help and redeem. This parable amplifies Jesus’ words where He pronounced woes on the rich because they took no heed of the poor, and promised blessings on the poor (Luke 6:20-26).
- It mentioned Lazarus was in heaven with Abraham. However, Jesus was the first one that ascended to heaven and since he was still on earth giving the parable, there is no way anyone else is in heaven from the Earth. (John 3:13)
blacksheep’s reply:
Hopefully answered above in the hades question.
- It talks about cooling his tongue with one drop of water. A) How could one drop of water make it to a fiery place like that without evaporating and B) What would one drop do for a man that is completely consumed in flames?
blacksheep’s reply:
Not biblical but it could be psychological, the words of a person in torment wanting relief.
Additional Point:
When Lazarus died (Jesus friend, not the one in the parable) what did Jesus say happened to him? Did he say that Lazarus was asleep? Why, if he was going to heaven, would he resurrect him?
blacksheep’s reply:
Jesus stated that Lazarus was dead (Jn. 11:14). The miracle of Lazarus’s resurrection was a sign pointing to Jesus as the resurrection and the life. It was a demonstration of what God will do for all believers who have died, for they too will be raised from the dead (Jn. 14:3; I Thes. 4:13-18). Also the resurrection of Lazarus was for the glory of God, His Son, and to show that God had truely sent Jesus to be the saviour of the world (Jn. 11:4,42).
MARANATHA
