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Glory · Who We Are
Scripture presents the human person as a unity made by God: dust that He breathed into living being. It speaks of body, soul, and spirit to describe the whole person in relation to God and to eternity, not to divide us into detachable parts. We are embodied souls, meant to be whole, and destined not to shed our bodies but to have them raised and renewed.
https://glorystudy.com/questions/body-soul-and-spirit · Scripture quoted from the World English Bible
Genesis 2:1-7
As you read: God forms man from the dust and breathes into him the breath of life, and the man becomes a living being: body and spirit from His hand.
1The heavens, the earth, and all their vast array were finished.
2On the seventh day God finished his work which he had done; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had done.
3God blessed the seventh day, and made it holy, because he rested in it from all his work of creation which he had done.
4This is the history of the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created, in the day that Yahweh God made the earth and the heavens.
5No plant of the field was yet in the earth, and no herb of the field had yet sprung up; for Yahweh God had not caused it to rain on the earth. There was not a man to till the ground,
6but a mist went up from the earth, and watered the whole surface of the ground.
7Yahweh God formed man from the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.
Psalm 139:1-18
As you read: The psalmist marvels at being woven together in the womb and known by God to the depths of his being.
1Yahweh, you have searched me, and you know me.
2You know my sitting down and my rising up. You perceive my thoughts from afar.
3You search out my path and my lying down, and are acquainted with all my ways.
4For there is not a word on my tongue, but, behold, Yahweh, you know it altogether.
5You hem me in behind and before. You laid your hand on me.
6This knowledge is beyond me. It’s lofty. I can’t attain it.
7Where could I go from your Spirit? Or where could I flee from your presence?
8If I ascend up into heaven, you are there. If I make my bed in Sheol, behold, you are there!
9If I take the wings of the dawn, and settle in the uttermost parts of the sea;
10Even there your hand will lead me, and your right hand will hold me.
11If I say, “Surely the darkness will overwhelm me; the light around me will be night”;
12even the darkness doesn’t hide from you, but the night shines as the day. The darkness is like light to you.
13For you formed my inmost being. You knit me together in my mother’s womb.
14I will give thanks to you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Your works are wonderful. My soul knows that very well.
15My frame wasn’t hidden from you, when I was made in secret, woven together in the depths of the earth.
16Your eyes saw my body. In your book they were all written, the days that were ordained for me, when as yet there were none of them.
17How precious to me are your thoughts, God! How vast is their sum!
18If I would count them, they are more in number than the sand. When I wake up, I am still with you.
1 Thessalonians 5:16-24
As you read: Paul's prayer that the whole person, spirit, soul, and body, be kept blameless until the Lord's coming.
16Rejoice always.
17Pray without ceasing.
18In everything give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus toward you.
19Don’t quench the Spirit.
20Don’t despise prophesies.
21Test all things, and hold firmly that which is good.
22Abstain from every form of evil.
23May the God of peace himself sanctify you completely. May your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
24He who calls you is faithful, who will also do it.
1 Corinthians 15:35-58
As you read: The body is not discarded but transformed: sown a natural body, raised a spiritual body, the perishable putting on the imperishable.
35But someone will say, “How are the dead raised?” and, “With what kind of body do they come?”
36You foolish one, that which you yourself sow is not made alive unless it dies.
37That which you sow, you don’t sow the body that will be, but a bare grain, maybe of wheat, or of some other kind.
38But God gives it a body even as it pleased him, and to each seed a body of its own.
39All flesh is not the same flesh, but there is one flesh of men, another flesh of animals, another of fish, and another of birds.
40There are also celestial bodies, and terrestrial bodies; but the glory of the celestial differs from that of the terrestrial.
41There is one glory of the sun, another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; for one star differs from another star in glory.
42So also is the resurrection of the dead. The body is sown perishable; it is raised imperishable.
43It is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness; it is raised in power.
44It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body and there is also a spiritual body.
45So also it is written, “The first man, Adam, became a living soul.” The last Adam became a life-giving spirit.
46However that which is spiritual isn’t first, but that which is natural, then that which is spiritual.
47The first man is of the earth, made of dust. The second man is the Lord from heaven.
48As is the one made of dust, such are those who are also made of dust; and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly.
49As we have borne the image of those made of dust, let’s also bear the image of the heavenly.
50Now I say this, brothers, that flesh and blood can’t inherit the Kingdom of God; neither does the perishable inherit imperishable.
51Behold, I tell you a mystery. We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed,
52in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we will be changed.
53For this perishable body must become imperishable, and this mortal must put on immortality.
54But when this perishable body will have become imperishable, and this mortal will have put on immortality, then what is written will happen: “Death is swallowed up in victory.”
55“Death, where is your sting? Hades, where is your victory?”
56The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.
57But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
58Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the Lord’s work, because you know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.
1 Corinthians 6:12-20
As you read: Your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, the body is for the Lord, and you are to glorify God in your body.
12“All things are lawful for me,” but not all things are expedient. “All things are lawful for me,” but I will not be brought under the power of anything.
13“Foods for the belly, and the belly for foods,” but God will bring to nothing both it and them. But the body is not for sexual immorality, but for the Lord; and the Lord for the body.
14Now God raised up the Lord, and will also raise us up by his power.
15Don’t you know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ, and make them members of a prostitute? May it never be!
16Or don’t you know that he who is joined to a prostitute is one body? For, “The two”, he says, “will become one flesh.”
17But he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit.
18Flee sexual immorality! “Every sin that a man does is outside the body,” but he who commits sexual immorality sins against his own body.
19Or don’t you know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit which is in you, which you have from God? You are not your own,
20for you were bought with a price. Therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.
Genesis gives the shape of the human person: 'Yahweh God formed man from the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.' We are not a spirit trapped in a body, nor a body that happens to think; we are a created unity, earth and breath joined by the hand of God, fearfully and wonderfully made.
“Yahweh God formed man from the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.”Genesis 2:7
“I will give thanks to you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Your works are wonderful. My soul knows that very well.”Psalm 139:14
“The Spirit of God has made me, and the breath of the Almighty gives me life.”Job 33:4
When Scripture lists 'spirit, soul, and body,' it is praying for the whole person to be kept blameless, not drawing a diagram of detachable parts. Jesus said to love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength: the whole of who we are, in every dimension, is to be His. These words describe our life from the inside out and under God, every part belonging to Him.
“May the God of peace himself sanctify you completely. May your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.”1 Thessalonians 5:23
“you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.’This is the first commandment.”Mark 12:30
“He answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself.””Luke 10:27
At death the dust returns to the earth as it was, and the spirit returns to God who gave it. For the believer, this is not the end but a going home: to be absent from the body is to be at home with the Lord. On the cross Jesus Himself committed His spirit into the Father's hands, and Paul said that to depart is to be with Christ, which is far better.
“and the dust returns to the earth as it was, and the spirit returns to God who gave it.”Ecclesiastes 12:7
“We are courageous, I say, and are willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be at home with the Lord.”2 Corinthians 5:8
“Jesus, crying with a loud voice, said, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!” Having said this, he breathed his last.”Luke 23:46
“But I am in a dilemma between the two, having the desire to depart and be with Christ, which is far better.”Philippians 1:23
The Christian hope is not a disembodied eternity but a resurrection. It is sown a natural body, Paul says, and raised a spiritual body; this perishable must put on the imperishable. The Spirit who raised Jesus will give life to our mortal bodies. Our bodies are not garbage to be shed but God's creation to be redeemed, and we await their renewal, not their loss.
“It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body and there is also a spiritual body.”1 Corinthians 15:44
“For this perishable body must become imperishable, and this mortal must put on immortality.”1 Corinthians 15:53
“But if the Spirit of him who raised up Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised up Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.”Romans 8:11
“who will change the body of our humiliation to be conformed to the body of his glory, according to the working by which he is able even to subject all things to himself.”Philippians 3:21
Because our bodies belong to the Lord, the whole of embodied life is worship. Your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, and you were bought with a price, so you are to glorify God in your body. Do not let sin reign in your mortal body, Paul urges, but present your members to God as instruments of righteousness. Our hands, our words, our physical lives, our unseen hearts: all of it is His.
“Or don’t you know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit which is in you, which you have from God? You are not your own,”1 Corinthians 6:19
“for you were bought with a price. Therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.”1 Corinthians 6:20
“Therefore don’t let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts.”Romans 6:12
“Neither present your members to sin as instruments of unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God, as alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God.”Romans 6:13