Soul, Spirit, Flesh: Whats the Difference?

Is there such a thing as a second-class Christian? That's just one of the questions we'll be answering on today's edition of CORE Christianity. Hi, I'm Bill Meyer, along with Pastor Adriel Sanchez, and this is the radio program where we answer your questions about the Bible and the Christian life every day. You can call us right now with your question at 833-THE-CORE.

You can also email us with your question at questions at COREChristianity.com or go to our Facebook or Instagram page and post your question there. Well, every day we like to start off the program with a good news story, and this one comes from the town of Rochester, Washington. When an 88-year-old man was sent to the hospital with a broken hip, the firefighters who responded to the emergency call returned to his house to finish his yard work.

Check this out. Howard Storlie was mowing his lawn when he fell and broke his hip. Now, he injured himself in an isolated part of his yard so no one could see him laying on the ground. For four hours, Mr. Storlie was unable to move. But thankfully, a group of three middle schoolers were walking in front of his house and they heard his cries for help and they called 911. Three fire department first responders arrived on the scene and they whisked Mr. Storlie off to the hospital.

When they were finished with their duties that evening, they all agreed to go back to Mr. Storlie's house and finish all of his yard work. How is that for going above and beyond the call of duty, Adriel? I'm a mindful believer that God's promises are conditional and that if we don't forgive others, our Heavenly Father will not forgive us. This person lives his everyday life making sure God is happy, and when he does sin, he says, oh no, I just made God so sad. I'm trying to make sense of all this.

Is this healthy or am I the one who needs a heart check? Some of the promises of God in the Bible are conditional and some are unconditional. When it comes to salvation, the only condition is faith in Jesus Christ. And that's not a condition in the sense that our faith earns salvation. Faith is like an empty hand. By faith, we reach out and lay hold of Jesus' robes of righteousness. Jesus saves and faith is the instrument by which he saves us.

Now, if I were talking to your friend, I would want to make sure he understood a couple of things. One, our sins grieve God, but we mustn't imagine that God is in heaven on this emotional roller coaster because of what we are doing. God is in complete control.

He doesn't have bad days. You and I have bad days, but our sins and circumstances don't shake God. Let me give you a big theological word, the doctrine of impassibility. God is not overwhelmed with suffering, with our suffering.

That's what the doctrine of impassibility teaches. And it's really important because it shows us that when everything seems like it's falling apart in our world and we're struggling, we don't understand what's going on, God is not at a loss. God is in complete control. God is not overwhelmed with our suffering. Now, even if we understand that God is an up and down, that doesn't mean that sometimes we as believers can't get into the rut of basing our relationship with God on our performance.

And I think that's a real concern that I would have here as I was talking to your friend. If I feel like I'm doing a good job serving Jesus, reading my Bible, being patient with my children, I'm confident in the Lord. But the moment there's a lapse and I miss a day or two of devotions or lose my temper, I start to wonder if I'm even saved. That's how some people operate in their relationship with God. Performance-driven Christianity. It says God accepts me and loves me on the basis of how I'm doing in any given moment. So biblical Christianity roots God's love and mercy toward his people, not in our performance, but in what Jesus has done for us, in his sacrifice on the cross.

Not in performance, we might say, but in propitiation, that big word that Paul uses in places like the book of Romans to talk about the sacrifice of Jesus for us, saving us. So what is Jesus talking about when he says forgive and you will be forgiven? Doesn't that suggest that our forgiveness from God is based on how well we forgive? I prefer to understand it a different way.

Here's what I would say. A forgiving attitude is the sign of a forgiven person. Often we are stingy and unforgiving because we're not receiving the grace and forgiveness we need to be receiving from the Lord. And we're into the whole performance-based Christianity, so when others don't live up to our standard, we don't forgive them. So often we won't forgive others when we won't forgive others. It's because we're not fully understanding God's gracious pardon of our sins. Your sins against God are a greater debt than any person's sins against you, and yet God has forgiven you.

I don't think that you're off here necessarily or that you need the heart check per se that you're asking about. I think it's important that we understand, one, that our standing with God is not based on our performance, but his grace, propitiation, the sacrifice of Jesus Christ for us. And when we get that, it makes us want to serve the Lord out of love, not out of a sense of obligation.

Wendy, thank you so much for your call and for your care and concern for your friend. We really do appreciate that here at CORE Christianity. By the way, you can email us your question anytime. Our email address is questions at corechristianity.com.

You can also call us at 833-THE-CORE. And we had a call come in from Abraham. My question is, does God control government history and politics to fulfill all that he promises to fulfill?

Thank you. Abraham, thank you for your question. Yeah, I mean, I think when we look at the scriptures, we would have to say yes. I mean, so a few verses come to mind.

Obviously, in thinking about government, the first verse that comes to mind in the New Testament is Romans 13, one where Paul said, let every person be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except from God and those that exist have been instituted by God. But then, going to the Old Testament, my mind goes to Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon. When God revealed to Nebuchadnezzar the secret behind a dream he had, do you remember what Nebuchadnezzar said? It's in Daniel chapter 2, verses 20 and 21. Blessed be the name of God forever and ever, to whom belong wisdom and might.

He changes times and seasons. He removes kings and sets up kings. Now, later in his life, when Nebuchadnezzar got arrogant and he thought that it was by his power and might that he had gained the kingdom that he had, all the wealth, all the land, God judged him. And Daniel told him that the judgment would last, this is Daniel chapter 4, verse 32, until you know that the Most High rules the kingdom of men and gives it to whom he will.

So the answer, Abraham, to your question is yes. God is the king of the whole earth, and even when the nations rage against him in sin and rebellion, the Lord is not swayed from his throne. Jesus told Pilate he would have no authority unless God had let him have that authority. Now, does this mean that God is responsible for the sin of wicked rulers?

No, absolutely not. I mean, he wasn't responsible for Nebuchadnezzar's pride and he isn't responsible for the sin of tyrannical rulers today, but they are permitted to continue in their office solely by God's power. Now, we don't know why God might allow that, but we should be comforted by the fact that even when it seems like the world is turned upside down, our God isn't shaken and he hasn't lost control. Earthly rulers are going to be held accountable by the Lord. There's this story of the martyrdom of a Christian named Polycarp. This is one of the oldest accounts of a Christian dying for their faith outside of the Bible. The government was calling him to recant his faith or to be burned alive.

And it's been a while since I've read the account, but in general, Polycarp responded to the official that was threatening him by saying, You're threatening me with a fire that burns for a short while. You're going to have to answer to God who threatens you with the fires of eternal judgment. Talk about a real bold thing to say there as you're about to be put to death. The point is earthly governments, they're legitimate, part of the world that God created, but they're also accountable. And God can use even evil rulers to accomplish his good purposes in the world. And we see that certainly with what happened to Jesus, don't we? You have wicked rulers delivering Jesus up to be crucified, putting him to death, and yet we know that it all happened according to the predetermined plan of God.

Why? To accomplish salvation for us. There's a great mystery there, Abraham, but I think it's comforting to us because it shows us that no matter how bad things get, our God is in control and he's able to bring good even out of the most terrible situations that we can imagine. Thanks for your question, Abraham. And Adriel, I was also thinking that's another example of how we can't necessarily look at our current circumstances or even the earthly circumstances of politics or government, because in the end, all things will be made right by our Heavenly Father.

Yeah. I mean, boy, I just keep going back to the book of Daniel, but I think, again, of Daniel chapter two, where it talks about the kingdom that God is building. The kingdoms of this world, they're going to be like chaff in the wind. But God is building a kingdom. Right now, through the preaching of the gospel, Jesus said, I'm going to build my church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it. There's a comfort that we have as believers during uncertain times that no matter what's going on around us, even the persecution the church experiences, we have the promise of God Almighty that his kingdom is here and it is coming in power more and more every day through the preaching of the gospel. And one day, as you said, God is going to make everything right.

He's going to heal all the brokenness that we see when that kingdom is at last consummated, when the new creation arrives, the final judgment, the resurrection of the body. What a hope we have as Christians. This is Core Christianity with Bill Meyer and Pastor Adriel Sanchez. And Adriel, we want to tell our listeners about an exciting opportunity that we have for them today. Yeah, I really hope that you'll consider joining what we call the inner core.

I am so grateful. I know you are too, Bill, for the inner core members that we have, their regular gifts that help us to continue to share the core truths of the Christian faith, that hope that we have in the resurrection of the body and the life of the world to come. I mean, this is what grounds us in the midst of days and times of uncertainty that new listeners are discovering Core Christianity, this program every day, and your support helps us to get that message out. With a monthly donation of $25 or more, you can be a part of our team, the team that's making it possible for us to answer these questions and share the core truths of the Christian faith. So I want to ask you, go to corechristianity.com forward slash inner core to learn more, or give us a call at 833-THE-CORE.

Thank you for your support. We'd ask you to prayerfully consider supporting Core Christianity because we are depending on people just like you to keep this ministry going. And Adriel, here's a call we received from Stuart. I'm calling from Grafton, North Dakota, and I'm just wondering if we can have the Holy Spirit through asking to be filled. I know that we receive the Holy Spirit when we become a Christian. I know like the early disciples after Jesus had risen into heaven, they received the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost. So how can we receive the Holy Spirit like that? Great question. A couple of things. I think it's really helpful to distinguish between what we call the order of salvation and the history of salvation. These might be new concepts for you.

They were for me years ago. We don't often talk about this distinction, but the order of salvation refers to those distinct acts in redemption that you see in the Bible. God calls us. He regenerates us. He justifies us. He adopts us. He sanctifies us. He causes us to persevere in the faith.

He glorifies us. The New Testament uses this kind of language in places like Romans 8 or in John 3. It's the order of salvation, those distinct acts of God throughout the Christian life whereby He communicates to us the gifts of Jesus Christ by faith.

That's key. That's something that we all experience as believers. Now, that's to be distinguished from the history of salvation. What's the history of salvation? It's redemptive history. You think of the incarnation, the life and ministry of Jesus Christ, His death on the cross for our sins, His resurrection from the dead. The day of Pentecost, it's a part of the history of salvation when Jesus ascended into heaven and then poured the Holy Spirit on the church. There in the book of Acts, this was prophesied in Joel chapter 2. This is the history of redemption being accomplished. Now, the order of salvation applies to us what Jesus accomplished in the history of salvation, and I make that distinction to make the point that we don't relive the history of salvation.

That was once and for all. When Jesus, for example, when He died on the cross, when He rose again from the dead, that's not something that we're reliving or re-experiencing. Same with Pentecost. Pentecost is a part of the history of salvation. Now, we experience as believers today the benefits and the blessing of what Jesus accomplished on Pentecost, pouring out the Holy Spirit on the church. We're sealed with the Holy Spirit when we come to faith in Jesus Christ. As you say, we're indwelt with the Holy Spirit. If you're a believer in Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit lives in you. But we do pray for and ask every day, we ought to at least, that God would fill us with His Holy Spirit. Now, that doesn't mean that we're not sealed with the Spirit, and it doesn't mean that we're reliving Pentecost to be filled with the Spirit.

You know how that happens? It happens when the word of Jesus Christ dwells in you richly. Now, it's a command to be filled with the Spirit. The Apostle Paul said in the book of Ephesians, chapter 5, verse 17, Do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.

Do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery. But be filled with the Spirit, addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart. Now, the parallel passage in the book of Colossians, in Colossians, chapter 3, verse 16, where Paul uses the same terminology, he says, Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs with thankfulness in your hearts to God. In other words, the way we're filled with the Spirit, the way you're filled with the Spirit right now, Stuart, is as the word of Jesus Christ dwells in you richly.

I think that sometimes as believers we complicate things. We say, I want to be filled with the Spirit, and we sort of go off on our own, and we pray, fill me with the Spirit, and we're sort of waiting for this lightning bolt to strike us. Instead, if you want to be filled with the Spirit, you know what you should do? Dig into the Scriptures. Let it dwell in your heart richly, and what you'll find is as the word of the Lord dwells in you, you become filled with the Spirit. It just begins to flow out of you. The fruit of the Spirit that the Apostle Paul talked about in Galatians, chapter 5, love, joy, peace, patience.

That's what it looks like to be filled. This is Core Christianity. We'd love to get your question. You can call us anytime at 833-843-2673, and let's go to another call right now. Hello, my name is John.

I'm from Brownsville, Texas. My question is regarding the difference between the soul, the spirit, and the flesh. What is the difference between those three, and is the soul and the spirit the same thing?

Thank you. Yeah, well, we as humans, you know, we're one person. You know, your body is who you are, your spirit or your soul is a part of who you are, it's who you are. Some people have distinguished between the soul and the spirit, but my position is I think it's best to view them as interchangeable, and this is how the Bible treats them. Oftentimes, people who have died are referred to as spirits. Hebrews, chapter 12, verse 23, you know, the author of the Hebrews talks about when we gather together for worship, we're coming before the spirits of the righteous made perfect there in the presence of the Lord. Sometimes those who have died are referred to as souls. Revelation, chapter 6, verse 9 talks about the martyrs who have died for their faith under the altar, crying out to the Lord. Jesus said, what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world but loses his soul?

Mark, chapter 8, verse 36. So I don't think we should draw too sharp of a distinction between soul and spirit. We are one person and our souls and bodies are integral to who or what we are, and that's why the resurrection of the body is so important to the Christian faith. God is not just saving our spirits but our bodies, and he's going to restore the whole creation too. I mean, we sometimes I think miss that today when we talk about salvation. So many Christians just assume salvation is going to heaven when I die. Jesus is saving my spirit, and this old beat-up body, you know, that's just going to go into the ground and turn into dust, and that's it. And we imagine ourselves bouncing around on clouds in heaven to me.

Who knows what that's going to look like, we think. But the reality is, salvation in the Bible is so much more than just going to heaven when I die, the intermediate state we call it, and we've talked about that before on the program. It's the hope of the resurrection of the body and the life of the world to come through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. You know, if you wrestle with sickness, with disease, with, you know, an aged body and you think, ah, man, oh, to be young again. Well, there's something even better than that in store for you if you are in Christ. A resurrected, restored, redeemed body.

God is saving all of us. And I think another thing that this emphasizes is that there's more to us than meets the eye. You know, we're made in the image of God, and that's why we have dignity as God's creationist people. I read a book a while back by an atheist, and he argued that babies, human babies, are no more precious than piglets.

Why? Because we don't have a soul, he said. We're just animals. But that's not what the Bible teaches. The Bible teaches that we are made in the image of God, body and soul. We have dignity. We're worthy of respect, honor, goodness, because God is good, and he's made us in his image. And so it's really important for us to understand this, but John, I wouldn't draw too sharp of a distinction between spirit and soul. I think the Bible is just speaking in a way that what we're to understand is that we as one person are more than just our bodies.

We're spirit as well. So thank you for that question. Adriel, here's our last question of the day on core Christianity.

This one came in through our email. I heard someone pose the question, do you mourn over your sin instead of do you know that you're a sinner? I honestly don't remember actually mourning my sin. I just knew that I was a sinner. God showed me that I could not make myself good enough for him, and I needed Jesus.

This question has been bothering me. God has definitely showed me my sin in having felt guilt that led to repentance. I almost feel like I'm mentally torturing myself to see if I'm truly saved. I keep going back to the cross, but I can't stop thinking about what it really means to mourn your sin.

What am I missing? Thank you for that question. Well, look, in repentance, we have a true sense of our sins. What is repentance? It's turning away from our sins. It's a change of mind and turning to Christ. There is grief and hatred of our sin associated with repentance, but you have to be careful that you're not engaging in self-flagellation for Jesus. You know, if you recognize your sin, you know your guilt, turn to Jesus.

And the turning to Jesus part is key. Paul said in 2 Corinthians 7, verses 10 and 11, Godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death. For see what earnestness this godly grief has produced in you, but also what eagerness to clear yourselves, Paul said, what indignation, what fear, what longing, what zeal, what punishment.

At every point, you have proved yourselves innocent in the matter. Right before Paul said that, as he talked about the difference between godly grief and worldly sorrow, he said to the Corinthians in 2 Corinthians 7, As it is, I rejoice not because you were grieved, but because you were grieved into repenting. The truth is, we couldn't feel sorry enough for our sins. Our sins are against the perfectly good God who's been so merciful to us.

Not only did he create us, giving us all of these gifts, you know, all the many blessings that we have, taste, smell, sight. I mean, God is such a generous giver, but he also gave us redemption in his son, Jesus Christ. He forgives our sins, and yet we still fail.

We still fall. But God doesn't forgive us because we feel sorry enough or because we beat ourselves up pretty good. He forgives you solely because of Jesus and what Jesus did on your behalf. You see, repentance does not mean sitting in sorrow, and I think a lot of us, oh, we miss this. We think, if I can just show God that I'm really, really sorry, if I can be sad enough, well then maybe I can be forgiven. We have to be careful that we don't try to earn God's forgiveness by our wallowing in grief. God wants us, when we sin and we experience guilt, to look up to Jesus. And when you look up to Jesus, looking away from your sins, you're forgiven.

Receive it. Thanks for listening to CORE Christianity. To request your copy of today's special offer, visit us at corechristianity.com and click on offers in the menu bar or call us at 1-833-843-2673. That's 833-THE-CORE. When you contact us, please let us know how you've been encouraged by this podcast. And be sure to join us next time as we explore the truth of God's Word together.