Tag Archives: Flesh vs. Spirit

GOD IS SPIRIT: Day 1 of 5

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The central message of this week’s posts is that God is Spirit. I will provide proof texts from the Bible and commentary from my time spent in prayer hearing from God.

We will visit a few of the Biblical texts that are often misinterpreted because they are meant to be figurative language, not literal facts. For example: 1) The Son doesn’t know the end times; 2) Jesus must go before the Holy Spirit can be delivered; and more.

For now, let’s just look at a few of the Scriptures, that clearly define that God is Spirit. But please keep the idea in your mind that God is not flesh. God made Himself known in flesh, but the essence of God is Spirit. You and I are spirit beings made for eternity while we are wrapped temporarily in flesh-and-blood frames. As I wrote about last week: Father=Spirit. Son=Flesh. This does not equate to two Gods, but instead one God who is Father who temporarily wrapped Himself in Son flesh.

“God is spirit, and his worshippers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.” (John 4:24 NIV)

“For who knows a person’s thoughts except their own spirit within them? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God.” (1 Corinthians 2:11 NIV)

“So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.” (Genesis 1:27 NIV)

It is our spirit being that is made in God’s image because God is Spirit. Our physical flesh is intentionally crafted by God to be in the image of our human flesh-and-blood parents as part of the biological reproduction process. God provided the biological seed for the flesh-and-blood frame delivered through Mary. Hence the “Son of God” label that is often wrongly interpreted as a second God. Son=flesh. Father=Spirit. There is only one Spirit of God.

“The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.” (Colossians 1:15 NIV)

It is our spirit, not flesh, that goes to Heaven or Hell for all eternity.

ONE GOD: Day 3 of 5

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In yesterday’s post, I wrote about the Son “flesh” and the Father “Spirit” to remind us that God is Spirit and that God is not flesh. Two thousand plus years ago, God who is Spirit wore Son of God or Son of Man flesh so that He could be visibly seen and audibly heard in the physical realm.

Each time that Jesus referred to Himself as Son of Man while referring to God as Father, He was differentiating between the physical realm flesh and the Spirit. He was differentiating between the temporary Christ suit and His eternal Spirit being. “Son” equals flesh and “Father” equals Spirit. Again, there is only ONE Spirit of God, also known as the Holy Spirit. There is not a separate Spirit of God who made Himself known in flesh and then stayed in flesh to sit on the throne next to a God who was never in flesh. There is only one God who was temporarily in flesh as the Christ whose flesh would be crucified at the appointed time.

Let’s again look at some of the ONE GOD Scriptures to emphasize that there is truly only one God.

“I am the LORD, and there is no other; apart from me there is no God. I will strengthen you, though you have not acknowledged me, so that from the rising of the sun to the place of its setting people may know there is none besides me. I am the LORD, and there is no other.” (Isaiah 45:2-6 NIV)

“There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all through all and in all.” (Ephesians 4:4-6 NIV)

“Remember this, keep it in mind, take it to heart, you rebels. Remember the former things, those of long ago; I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me.” (Isaiah 46:8-9 NIV)

To recap, there is only ONE GOD. He is Spirit. He did not become a second Spirit of God when He robed Himself in temporary flesh and then eventually sit beside Himself on a throne in Heaven. The references to the Son sitting next to the Father are to remind us of when God intentionally took on flesh as an earthly king and a heavenly King. It was not to divide our allegiance between two separate Spirits of God.

Now let’s talk about the picture attached. Next month marks the 40th anniversary of the death of my youngest brother, Robby. The photo was taken just a few months before he died in a tragic car accident just before his 20th birthday. When I picture Robby in Heaven, this is how I picture him because that’s how he is remembered by me. I know analytically that he doesn’t look like that in Heaven because Robby’s flesh and blood body did not go to Heaven. His spirit being went to Heaven to be with God. I was at Robby’s funeral. I saw his temporary/earthly body in the casket. I saw the casket buried in the ground. And I know that all that is remaining of his human form is physical DNA that can be found in his decomposing skeletal bones. But Robby wasn’t ever just flesh and bones, he was a spirit being inside that temporary body.

So why is this important to the discussion of one God? Let’s see if I can make this understandable. We picture Jesus sitting on a throne in Heaven the way that He was present on earth (more than 2,000 years ago). The image we have of him doesn’t ever age or change. It is a fixed image in our mind of what He looked like when He was here in bodily form. But what we miss in that image is that Jesus is Spirit. He is the one and only Holy Spirit of God. He was only temporarily in bodily form for a period of time on our calendar. The essence of who He was then is His Spirit who is the Creator God. Jesus is not sitting next to God. He is God.

Gender XYZ (Page 2 of 4)

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The Gender Reveal:
God knits together the physical body in the mother’s womb using the parents’ DNA. The decision of male or female gender is exclusively God’s to make as He creates the child in the mother’s womb. God sovereignly chooses the key identity characteristics of each person. It’s not by chance. It’s by design.

“Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.” (Psalm 139:16 NIV)

With sonogram and blood testing technologies available, expectant parents can know the sex of their unborn child even before the baby is fully formed. However, the gender of the child is never a surprise to God. God chooses the physical and spiritual body of every individual. He doesn’t make mistakes nor is He ever unsure of His plans.

“For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place, when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.” (Psalm 139:13-15 NIV)

Flesh Versus … :
“See now that I myself am he! There is no god besides me. I put to death and I bring to life, I have wounded and I will heal, and no one can deliver out of my hand.” (Deuteronomy 32:39 NIV)

God is sovereign over life and death, both physical and spiritual. Let’s look at the physical body first where male and female characteristics are most obvious. The physical body is created by God in our parents’ likeness while the spiritual body is created in God’s image. God is Spirit. The spiritual being will either go to Heaven or Hell (as determined by God) when the physical body dies.

God breathes the “breath of life” or the spiritual being (created in God’s image) at birth. The spiritual being is separate from the physical being and is not part of the reproduction process. The physical body dies but the spiritual body is eternal.

•“The Spirit of God has made me; the breath of the Almighty gives me life.” (Job 33:4 NIV)

•“This is what God the LORD says—the Creator of the heavens, who stretches them out, who spreads out the earth with all that springs from it, who gives breath to its people, and life to those who walk on it:” (Isaiah 42:5 NIV)

•“But after the three and a half days the breath of life from God entered them, and they stood on their feet, and terror struck those who saw them.” (Rev. 11:11 NIV)

•“And with that he breathed on them and said, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit’”. (John 20:22 NIV)

“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 NIV)

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