“The mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace”
Romans 8:6
Some years ago a famous pop singer sang a song entitled “I’m a
Soul Man.” That title became a common phrase throughout the
Western world. I suspect he was referring to the cultural-ethnic orientation
of the Afro-American artistic expression. But the statement
communicates both a statement of truth and a myth. As we discussed
earlier in this chapter, the soul is the triunity of the mind, the will,
and the emotions. The soul was created for the purpose of receiving
revelation from the spirit-man to communicate it to the body and
information from the physical senses to transmit it to the spirit-man.
In essence, the soul was designed to be the “servant” of the spiritman,
and the body was designed to be the “servant” of the soul. Man
is a spirit, lives in a body, and possesses a soul. But the fall of man
changed that.
When Adam disobeyed God’s words, his spirit lost fellowship
with God’s Spirit and was paralyzed. The soul became a victim of his
body and the physical senses. When revelation from the spirit-man
was replaced by information from the physical senses, man became
a victim of his environment with education as his primary goal. In
fact, man was reduced to a “soul man.” Never allow a teacher’s opinion
or the score on an academic test or the fact that you didn’t complete
your formal education to dictate the magnitude of your
potential. You are as potent as your Creator says you are. The exercise
of the soul can make you smart, but not wise. Paul states in 1
Corinthians 1:25: “The foolishness of God is wiser than man’s wisdom
and the weakness of God is stronger than man’s strength.”
Man is a spirit, lives in a body, and possesses a soul.
