Spirit of Man  

Jesus declared, ‘God is Spirit’ (John 4:24)

It is evident from scripture that spirit is primary and body secondary, the natural realm was made from the spiritual realm (Hebrews 11:3).

The human spirit is the incorporeal part of man. The Bible says that the human spirit is the very breath of Almighty God and was breathed into man at the beginning of God’s creation: “Then the LORD God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being” (Genesis 2:7). Interestingly, after His physical resurrection and appearing to His disciples Jesus breathed on them after saying, “Receive the Holy Spirit” (John 20: 22).

"The first man Adam became a living being." The last Adam became a life-giving spirit.
(1Corinthians 15:45)

The human spirit gives us a consciousness of self and expresses the essence of who we are. The scripture teaches us that God knows man by or through his spirit.

The spirit of a man is the lamp of the LORD, searching all the inner depths of his heart.
Proverbs 20:27

When it comes to moral attitude heart and spirit go hand in hand. All the ways of a man are pure in his own eyes, but the LORD weighs the spirits. (Proverbs 16:2) Every way of a man is right in his own eyes, but the LORD weighs the hearts. (Proverbs 21:2)

Many years ago, during chemistry class I remember doing an experiment testing certain metals by holding them in the flame of a Bunsen Burner and the colour flame indicated what type of metal it was. We all loved burning magnesium because its flame was the brightest and most dramatic! Our spirit and heart are the truest indication of who we are; it stands to reason that we must ensure we have the right kind of spirit. The scripture says Caleb had a different kind of spirit than his contemporaries (complaining spirits).

“But My servant Caleb, because he has a different spirit in him and has followed Me fully, I will bring into the land where he went, and his descendants shall inherit it.” Numbers 14:24

After David’s sin and subsequent repentance, he prayed, ‘Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.’ (Psalm 51:10) In being restored from his sins David knew his spirit needed to be made right.

The spirit radiates the heart, it’s also fascinating to note that the physical heart emanates sixty times the amount of electromagnetic waves than the brain does. Maybe this helps explain why we can sense when someone is not being sincere because their words don’t match their heart.

Redemption

The new birth restores man back to spiritual prominence and our responsibility is to become strong (dominant) in spirit just as Jesus needed to.

And the Child grew and became strong in spirit, filled with wisdom; and the grace of God was upon Him. Luke 2:40

For Jesus to fulfil His purpose and to live a perfect righteous life He needed to become spiritually dominant, as was the case with John the Baptist (see Luke 1: 80).

Personality, gifting and ability are often celebrated more than a person’s inner spiritual life but a person spirit will set the moral course of their life. Being popular, tall and handsome could not give Saul the moral fibre he needed to lead Israel righteously and he succumbed when under pressure.

He who is slow to anger is better than the mighty, and he who rules his spirit than he who takes a city. Whoever has no rule over his own spirit is like a city broken down, without walls. Proverbs 16:32, 25:28

A strong spirit enables self-control, without of which we invariably default to our self inclined desires and responses which stem from our soul/natural life. James wrote about this:

Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show by good conduct that his works are done in the meekness of wisdom. But if you have bitter envy and self-seeking in your hearts, do not boast and lie against the truth. This wisdom does not descend from above, but is earthly, sensual, demonic. James 3:13-15

The word translated sensual in the NKJV is from the Greek adjective psychikos which is from the Greek noun pscyhe commonly translated soul. If we live from a soulish standpoint we will align with demonic attitudes - Isaiah declares Lucifers attitude, 'I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will also sit on the mount of the congregation On the farthest sides of the north; I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High.' (Isa 14:13-14). This passage from James comes directly after a teaching on the tongue (words), a spiritual person will speak with their soul in subjection to their redeemed spirit, a carnal person will speak from their self inclined  soul (see James 3: 1-12)

Adam and Eve lost their spiritual oneness with God which elevated the pysche making serving ego the principle of life.  However, through Christ our new spirit is aligned with God and gladly yields to Jesus as Lord.

Paul modelled the victorious goldy life, which is a spirit dominate life.

For God is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of His Son...
Romans 1:9

Recognising who you are

 

We need the truth of God's word to differentiate  between soul and spirit (see Hebrews 4: 12). James 1: 21-25 refers to new covenant teaching as the law of liberty by which we may look into like a mirror and see who we are in Christ (spirit). James points out that when we remember what we see (retain in our hearts) we will be a doer (manifest this reality by our words and actions).

The accuser (devil) aims to lock us into our old natural selves (failures, carnal weaknesses etc) in getting us to consider ourselves as a struggling sinner. Christ in the other hand has set us free and given us a new principle of life, as we simply lock into this truth, we transform without trying to change. This is true freedom.

But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord. 2Corinthians 3:18

Keep Beholding...and let your spirit live!