On the Inner Man

(I have already posted this in my Facebook notes, and it was published in the Trinity Gazette, so if you have read it before, I thank you for coming to this web page, and apologize that their was nothing new for you.)

Genesis 1:26 “And God said, ‘Let us make man in our own image…’”

The results of this study did not fit the mold of contemporary theology that believes the body is part of the image. I quote Dwight M. Pratt on "The Inward Man", with whom I agree, "Briefly stated, it is mind, soul, spirit ­­­-- God's image in man -- man's higher nature, intellectual, moral, and spiritual."

In order to further define "The Inward Man", let's begin with, "What is a soul?"

Hebrew, Nephesh modified by chay or chaim (pl.) is translated living soul, or living creatures. Both words mean created things, beings, or creatures; both are applied to either animals or man without distinction. Chay is an adjective while nephesh is a noun. They both refer to living or life.

The distinction between animals and man (human beings), comes from the words of God, "Let Us make man in Our image." This distinction is not the soul, itself. The soul is what makes each individual of a species distinct from others of it's own kind. We do not mark this distinction in wild animals that we do not view closely, but we can see individualistic preferences and behaviors in domestic animals. How our pets interact with their human owners, other humans, and other animals make up part of what we call personality. The nature of a man exists in his soul. Adam was created with a sinless, perfect nature.

Animals have individual tastes and preferences, dominance, or a place in the pecking order, just as humans do. What sets us apart is complex, and yet simple at the same time. The soul of man is imprinted with God-like desires as well as animalistic desires. We abhor evil whether it befalls ourselves, mankind, or the animal world.

But that alone does not prevent us from perpetrating evil. God has also given us a mind impressed with a conscience to govern our actions. Animals act instinctively, man acts by reason. The mind governs our abilities: our ability to think, learn, and retain knowledge, wisdom, and understanding; our talents and abilities to work and produce something of value; and our abilities to communicate and to teach what we have learned to others.

The mind and the soul overlap in the emotions and in respect to self awareness. We can prioritize our desires. The mind can govern the emotions, and soulish desires can be brought under the control of the mind, at least temporarily. When under the control of God's Spirit, our spirit can do a much better job of this than our mind can do.

The third part of us that defines man is that spirit, which God created within us. Before the fall of Adam, this spirit was in close communion with God on a daily basis. After the fall, the spirit within man died and lost the ability to communicate with God as He designed it. We say we are born with a dead spirit because it requires regeneration, or rebirth, to regain the possibility of communicating with God. This second birth is what Jesus refers to in John chapter 3, as he talks with Nicodemus. We call rebirth being born again, and salvation because it also saves us from eternal punishment for sin, separating us eternally from God in the Lake of Fire we call Hell. Regeneration is also deliverance from the power of sin in this present life.

Our spirit is ungoverned by God's law from the time we are conceived until we turn control of our life over to God. In this respect our spirit is our life. For our entire life we will be unable to follow God's law in the way He requires. But when we turn control of our life over to God, His Holy Spirit comes to live within our bodies with our spirit, and enables us to live a life that is pleasing in His eyes.

It is the union of these three, the mind, the soul, and the spirit of a human being, that make up the true individual of our species, the inner man. The body merely houses the true human being. After our bodies die, a spirit that has experienced the second birth gives life to the soul, and the mind continues to function apart from and without the limitations of the capacity of the brain. This three part union is what is meant by the image of God, and the complexity of the union is what makes it so difficult to understand. Another thing that can add to our confusion is that this inner being is sometimes, but not always referred to as the heart of man.
Since these areas of our nature are bound so closely together that they overlap, one sometimes is referred to as the other. This is especially noticeable in the use of the word heart in the Bible. Sometimes it means mind, sometimes soul, and sometimes spirit rather than all three. This is a good thing in that it helps us understand the nature of God more easily. God is one Being in that He is of one mind, He is one Spirit, yet has three distinct personalities. He has the Father personality, the personality of the Son, and that of the Holy Spirit who comes to live within each believer. These three are so closely united that in some instances they share the same name of God. In the Hebrew there are both singular and plural names for the one true God.
We call this unity of the three personalities as one God, the Trinity. The ancient theologians called God a Tri-Parte Being, which has a wrong implication.. It may help to understand this unity better by saying He is a Triunity. Each of His three natures exist totally, independently, and undiminished as God, whereas the three parts of our being cannot do so. Each of these members of the Trinity also exist together as one God without gaining any attributes that any member of this Triunity possessed individually.
So then in the creation of man, we have the first picture of what God is like. When Moses recorded Genesis Chapter One, he was not dreaming up a God who would appear to have the image of man. Rather, God through Moses revealed that He allowed, in His infinite love and wisdom, for one of His own creation to bear His image.