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Angels, Demons, and the Human Soul and Spirit
Part 1
Scriptural References
Eph 2:2
“wherein in time past ye walked according to the course (165: aion – an age) of this world (2889: kosmos – world system), according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh (1754: Energeo – to be active and energetic, to be in action) in the children of disobedience.”
1Peter 1:14
“As obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance.
Heb 4:12
“For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.”
1Cor 2:12
“Now we have received, not the spirit of the world (2889: kosmos – world system), but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God.”
John 8:44
“Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts (the active and individual desire resulting from the diseased condition of the soul.) of your father ye will do…”
Discussion
When Adam sinned in the Garden, His spirit died or was separated from God. This produced a number of problems for Adam and his children for every generation that followed. These problems will be analyzed in detail later in this lesson.
The statement that Jesus made, “Your father is the devil, and the lusts of your father you will do…” was not an allegorical, metaphorical, or symbolic statement. It should also be obvious that Jesus was not saying that satan was their biological father, for he also said, “I know that ye are Abraham’s seed” (John 8:37). What then was Jesus saying? He was clearly saying that satan was their spiritual father. Jesus clears this up nicely when the Jews say, “We have one father, even God (John 8:41).” Jesus responds, “God is not your father, but the devil is.” Wow! What an identity smasher! Here the whole time they thought that they were in the image of God and that God was there father. Where did Jesus get the idea to make such a bold statement? He got it from the Old Testament. He knew the plan of God and He knew what happened to man in the Garden. So let’s take a closer look at what happened to Adam when he fell.
In order to understand the impact of the fall on Man’s life, we must first be clear on his makeup so that we can see how each area was effected, or infected. This is important for us today because our job is to participate, through the power of God, in reversing the curse on our lives , and thus removing all the effects of the fall in our own lives, in the lives of those around us, and in fact all of creation. We cannot do this if we do not know how Adam was effected and consequently ourselves also. When Adam fell, He was effected in each area or component of his being: Spirit, Soul, and Body.
Man’s 3 Deaths
Man died in each part of his nature because of the original transgression in the Garden. He died spiritually the day he transgressed. He died nearly 1000 years later in his body, and Adams children have been dying in their soul for over 6000 years ever since.
What are the 3 Deaths?
1. Spiritually – Man’s spirit became disconnected from God’s Spirit.
2. Soul – Man’s soul began to slowly lose the knowledge of God until he rejected any knowledge of God altogether. The knowledge of God, the Logos, is the light and life of a man’s soul. Without the Logos unfolding to man’s soul, man cannot fulfill his destiny and possess the substance of his inheritance. Is your soul dead, even though you are born again?!!
3. Body – Man’s body degenerated and went back to the dust of the earth. This happens when man’s spirit and soul leave his body. Man’s body has become progressively more fragile because of the lack of divine life infusion. Divine life comes from the spirit, through the soul, and then into the body (Rom 8:11).
Man’s 3 Births – Perfect Redemption
1. Spirit- is called being born again (John 3:3, 1Peter 1:3)
2. Soul – is called being sanctified
3. Body – is called being glorified (1Cor 15:30, John 17:5)
As stated above, and worth repeating: Divine life comes from the spirit, through the soul, and then into the body. Did you get the part “through the soul”? This is why John says in 3John 1:2, “Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth”.
If your soul does not prosper, or grow into the maturity of Love (God is love), then you have no divine life flowing into your body and into your circumstances. Did you know that divine life will not flow into you circumstances unless you do something with your body? That’s right, for “faith without works is dead”(James 2:17), and “by works your faith is made perfect” (James 2:22). You cannot do a work apart from an action in your body.
The Soul: Your Canaan, Your Garden, Your Responsibility
Once you are born again, there is nothing more to be done with your spirit. Your spirit is now joined to the Lord’s Spirit and you are now one with him in spirit. You cannot grow in your spirit. Your spirit does not get bigger or stronger, for you are now joined to the unlimited Spirit of God, and you have the Spirit of the Father in your spirit without measure. However, how much of the Spirit of the unlimited God is seen through your body and in your life depends on the renewing of your mind (Rom 12:2). Remember when Jesus was transfigured before Peter, James, and John on the Mount of Transfiguration? What was in His soul came out through his body. Rom 12:2 and 2Cor 3:18 promises us the same experience if we will do our part and focus on the renovation of our soul.
Is your soul dead, even though you are born again?!!
Have you rejected the knowledge of God in any area of your life? If you have, then you have died in that area of your soul. You will look, feel, and act no different than an unregenerate heathen if you reject the knowledge of God. You must be renewed in your mind, and in the spirit of your mind if you want the life of God to flow into your body and out of you into your circumstances.
What can you do?
Renew your mind by meditating, thinking on, and contemplating the Logos. The Logos is the orderly thoughts of God put into written form so your train (mind) has a track to run on. Keep your train on the track of God’s word.
“In him was life; and the life was the light of men.” (John 1:4)
As you study the word, light (the knowledge of God) will come into your soul and that light will make you alive. That light is your life. The knowledge of God is the life of your soul. When you act on this knowledge, then the life will flow into your body, and your body will be strengthened and will be at peace.
Angels and Demons
When Jesus talked in the Gospels, He always spoke relevant to the written Word of God, because he is a teacher and He is the revelation of the Father to mankind. What the Father wanted men to know about himself he put in the Old Testament. Jesus is the revealing of what was written and concealed in the Old Testament. This is important to understand when we read statements in the New Testament like, “In the beginning”. This term does not mean in the beginning of all things. It means the beginning of what is relevant to us, namely, the creation of the Heavens and the Earth. Why would Jesus speak of something the Father did not? Of course, He wouldn’t, because He is the Logos. With that in mind, what does the following scripture mean when Jesus references Satan?:
John 8:44
He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him.”
It means that from the beginning of man’s creation, satan was a murderer and a liar. We do not know when the angels were created, except that they were created before us, because Lucifer had become Satan already by the time man was created. So Jesus is referencing the event in the Garden when He says “in the beginning”. In other words, “In the beginning, in the Garden, when this whole mess got started, the devil was a liar and a murderer”. Who did he murder, and how did he do it? He murdered Adam and Eve with his lies. So death was passed onto Adam through words that were contrary to Jehovah Elohim’s words.
The Birth of the World
This mystery has been hidden from men since the world began. (Rom 16:25)
What is the world and when was its foundation laid and from where did it get it’s beginning? How can the mystery be revealed to us?
1. The World began at the conception of Iniquity when Adam transgressed God’s word. The world is a well thought out and cleverly designed system of death impartation through the application of the knowledge of good and evil originally found in the tree which was in the Garden of Eden.
2. Satan began to work a web of deception and darkness (Isa 25:7) by imputing what was in him (lust and pride: Isa 14:13&14,Ezek 28:17) into Adam’s spirit and then through his spirit into his soul. Man’s iniquity separates man from God (a spiritual experience) and man’s sins (a soul experience) hides God’s face from him ( Isa 59:2, Eph 4:18, 2Cor 3:14-18, 4:4-6)
3. Satan designed the world system to be the antithesis of the Kingdom of God and to be the method by which the knowledge of the glory of God ( The Father’s likeness, personal manifest presence: John 17:5), would be systematically stripped from the human race( Rom 1:21-25, 28-32). Satan accomplishes this by presenting to men lies that are exalted against the knowledge of God
( 2Cor 10:5) and men choose the lies because they do not love the truth
(2Thess 2:10-12). The lies feel better and help to ease man’s conscience from the fact that he has fallen short of the Glory of God (Rom 3:23). In man’s spiraling downward fall, all true knowledge of God must be done away with because what man has become is an enemy and at odds with what God is (Rom 8:6).
4. When a man turns to Christ this veil of deception is taken away because a man receives a new spirit within him (Gal 4:6) and his soul is renewed by the knowledge of God (Rom 12:2, Col 3:10) so that he can then see the face (1Cor 13:12, James 1:23,24 Rev22:4) of a God and Father that has been reaching out to him for over six millennia. God has always seen us, we have just been unable to see Him (Heb 4:13), until Christ.
Once Christ has been received into the heart, a man is no longer at odds or strife with God in his nature (Rom 5:1). However, unless his mind is now renewed (Rom 12:2) there will be little realization in his daily experience of this new peace with God because his mind still carries the residual effects of a fallen nature (Rom 8:5-8, Col 3:9&10, Eph 4:22-24). We are commanded to put the habits of the old nature behind us and learn the habits of a new man, the Lord Jesus Christ (1Cor 15:47-449). As we do this, the mystery of God and his kingdom begin to be
revealed to us in our every day life experiences. At this point our days of ignorance begin to pass away as the Holy Spirit leads us into all truth as we are able to bear it (John 16:12&13), or grow up into it.
Note: Christ bore the death penalty of the old man, the sin nature, by becoming one with that nature on the cross. He became a “curse” for us (Gal 3:13) and endured judgment without mercy. For those who believe and receive his payment, their debt is cancelled and they receive Christ’s righteous spiritual nature (Gal 6:15, Eph 2:10, 2Cor 5:17, 21). For those who do not, they will have to pay the death penalty themselves because they are still of the old, disconnected and corrupt spiritual nature which has it’s union with demons.
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