Human Beings According to the Bible

"Human Beings According to the Bible" was the topic of our study yesterday.  We saw how God has created us in His image and has given us both a body and a spirit.  We need to take good care of both these components of our being.  We need to nourish and exercise not only our body, which is temporary, but even more our spirit, which is eternal.

These are the notes of our discussion. 

April 11, 2011

Human Beings According to the Bible

Opening question: What is your favorite (appropriate) part of being human?

Today we are going to look at the Bible and what characteristics does it tell us about human beings.

1.         Every Human Being has a Spirit

In Ecclesiastes 12:6-7, we read: 6 Remember him—before the silver cord is severed, and the golden bowl is broken; before the pitcher is shattered at the spring, and the wheel broken at the well, 7 and the dust returns to the ground it came from, and the spirit returns to God who gave it.

The word or term “ecclesiastes” means literally “the assembly speaker”, that is, “the preacher.”

What is Solomon saying here?

In verse 6, Solomon is painting a picture here of death – that everything is gone – the silver cord is severed, the golden bowl is broken, the pitcher is shattered, the wheel broken at the well.  All these show that these items cannot be used anymore and cannot be fixed anymore.

In verse 7, Solomon says that dust returns to the ground and the spirit returns to God who gave it.

So, according to the Bible, the human body is not just made of the physical cells that we have, the parts that we see, but also of the spirit that God has given us.  Our spirit is our true personality.

In James 2:26, we read:  As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.

What is James saying here?

One cannot have a body that is alive without the spirit – or without the spirit the body is dead.

2.         Our Spirits are Eternal

In 2 Corinthians 5:1, we read: For we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands.

What is Paul saying here?

While our physical body is temporary, our spirit is eternal.  There will come a time when our body will be destroyed by death, but our spirit will continue to live forever.  Whether it will live with God in heaven or whether it will be suffering in hell, that will depend on the choice that we make while we are alive here on earth.

God created man with a free will – meaning that people can and do make choices and decisions, which are independent and free from outside control.  It is true that we are influenced by our friends, relatives and circumstances, but ultimately we are the ones who make the decision and live with those decisions.

How does this affect what we do with our body and our spirit?

3.         We Need to Take Good Care not of our Body, but Also of our Spirit

How do we take care of our body?

We eat, we rest, we sleep, we exercise.

We need to take good care of our spirit too.  In the same way that we are feeding our body, we need to feed the spirit.  In the same way that we exercise our body, we need to exercise our spirit.

But what do we feed the Spirit?

We feed our spirit the word of God.

Jesus himself said in Matthew 4:4 that: Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’

In the same way that when we eat healthy we are able to look great and healthy and when we exercise our body will show it, in the same way if we remain in the word of God and we study it and feed our spirit with it, then we will be able to show good fruits or the fruits of the spirit. 

We can produce the fruits of the spirit, as we read in Galatians 5:22-25:  22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,  23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.  24 Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.   25 Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.

Conclusions

God has created us in His image and has given us both a body and a spirit.  We need to take good care of both these components of our being.  We need to nourish and exercise not only our body, which is temporary, but even more our spirit, which is eternal.

Campus Bible Talk 2011