(BASED UPON NOTES OF AN ADDRESS)
The subject before me this afternoon is rather an unusual one—Body, Soul and Spirit! I wonder how many of you young people know that these elements compose your being? Man is a wonderful being. He is what we might call a tripartite being: that is, a being with three parts,—body, soul and spirit. This is peculiar to man, the chief of God's creation. No animal, no other creature possesses all three.
There are few subjects on which people are less informed than on this. That they have bodies they know, of course (though even this palpable truth is denied by some modern cults), but to that which is immortal, to that which lives forever somewhere, to soul and spirit, they give not a thought. Has it occurred to you that there is something within that never dies? Have you discovered that you are more than "beef and suet"? Have you ever said to yourself, 'What is this conscious, thinking, intelligent thing, with all its wondrous capacity for joy and sorrow that I call I? What am I?"
Suppose we inquire a little into the subject this afternoon, in the light of God's Word. We might begin by turning to the last chapter of I Thessalonians, and the 23rd verse: "And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ." Note the itemized account of our being here: "spirit and soul and body"! Man is not simply body, he is not simply body and soul, but he is body, soul and spirit. Now, this is at once an interesting and a solemn fact.
I propose, as the Lord may help me, to take up this subject from its simplest side. I shall therefore begin by speaking of the body,—the human body,—that marvel of creation!
I said "creation," but I no sooner utter the word than I remember that a strange and widespread doctrine today forbids it. I refer to the doctrine of Evolution.
Our young people today are told in High School and University that man was not created, but that he gradually developed, through the working of certain laws, from what is called "the original germ." This system dispenses with God altogether, or at best (seeing there are many kinds of evolutionists) gives the lie to His Word, and reduces Him to a Minimum. The majority of thoroughgoing evolutionists are atheists.
Is it not a strange thing for intelligent men and women to claim descent from a little thing that wiggled in the mud? Insinuate that a white man has negro blood in him, and you insult him; tell him that his great grandfather was a chimpanzee, and he accepts it with alacrity. No pride of ancestry, no pride of race is here. To embrace this false and degrading system, which only rests on the changing theories of men, and which has no real evidence to support it, everything is thrown to the winds.
If Evolution is true the Bible is false, and the solemn appeals in the sacred volume to heart and conscience, and its warnings of judgment to come may safely be disregarded. This, no doubt, is the secret charm of this system to those who know not God. To unregenerate man it is thus, in a sense, a comfortable doctrine. He is flattered by the progress he is assumed to have made, and by the further progress before him. If he is so wonderful a being, improved and improving,—carried along, too, by laws beyond his control,—why speak to him of sin, repentance or salvation? Why broach the subject of Christ's atoning death—the merits of His precious blood? With one wave of the hand all such inconvenient questions are dismissed. Huxley, a famous supporter of the theory of evolution, taught that sin was only part and parcel of the struggle for existence, "a symptom of biochemic activity." He was a bitter enemy of the God of the Bible. So was Herbert Spencer; so was the famous Haeckel in Germany; so was Renan in France. All the great leaders of this movement have rejected the Bible or ignored it. This circumstance alone should put us on our guard.
Evolution is a system of unstable and conflicting theories. Practically nothing is proven. This statement cannot be made too emphatic, notwithstanding the assured and confident assertions sometimes made about it by those whose information is superficial. Darwin, in his celebrated "Origin of Species" is only putting forth suppositions. Over 800 times he says "we may well suppose.” On this uncertain foundation an immense structure has been built, all equally uncertain.
Tyndall taught that the universe was formed from nebulous matter, exceedingly hot, which cooled off and contracted. Spencer taught exactly the reverse of this, viz:—that the nebulous matter was cold, and became hot as it contracted.
Darwin thought all living species come from half-a-dozen germinal forms, but Haeckel insisted on only one. Ridpath contradicted them both, and generously bestowed a separate original germ on every species.
Evolution cannot account for the origin of matter or of life. Huxley believed that a certain muddy ooze at the bottom of the ocean was protoplasm,—that from which all living creatures (including man) have come. This theory, enthusiastically received in scientific circles, only lasted until research by the U. S. Government showed Huxley's "protoplasm" to be nothing but a sulphate which any chemist can manufacture.
Sir Wm. Thompson advanced the bold idea that life reached this earth on a meteor from some other planet. Other evolutionists have tried to show that life could be produced by chemical activity. These theories are now discarded.
There is no point on which they all agree. Fischer fixes the age of the earth at 33 million years; Reade and Darwin proclaim it as 100 million years. Lord Kelvin claimed an age for it exceeding 7,200 millions!
As to the age of man they are all at loggerheads. Southall contends for 6.000 to 8,000 years. Prof. Driver sets the figure at 20,000 years, Draper at 250,000, Osborn at 500,000, while Foly demands that ten million years be conceded. Lalande, the French astronomer, unable to account for life or matter, gravely advanced the thought that man has been eternally on earth!
A great difficulty to evolutionists is the enormous gap between man and the lower creation. If this gulf could be bridged the system would seem much more plausible. Hence the incessant and desperate efforts to find "the missing link." But no "missing link" has been found, nor ever can be, for no such creature ever existed, despite the vivid descriptions of it with which we are occasionally favored.
An early instance of this kind was "The Calaveras Skull," now in the California State University Museum. This skull was found in a mine shaft 150 deep. The storekeeper of the mine afterward confessed that he was responsible for it, having placed the skull there as a practical joke.
Another furore was created by the discovery of "The Neanderthal Skull," in Germany, in 1856. It had a narrow, receding forehead, with thick ridges over the eyes. Evolutionists alleged this to be "the missing link" and gave it an age of from 200,000 to 300,000 years. Efforts were made to show the cranial capacity very low and brute-like, but Huxley himself corrected this, giving the skull a c. c. of 1230, which is close to the average measurement of the modern school teacher's skull. Skulls resembling it in other particulars exist today among the natives of Australia and Tasmania, and as geologists never had any accurate means of determining its age, owing to the circumstances under which it (and other relics) were found, the recent trend of scientific opinion has run in the direction of minimizing its importance. Prof. Macnamera says "modern science is compelled to conclude that the Neanderthal skulls * * * cannot be looked upon as missing links." Prof. Kramberger, a scientific writer of note, says, "Let us, be serious about zoological classification of man and then we shall acknowledge the Neanderthal man to be only a variety of modern man."
Some years ago a Columbia College professor discovered a skeleton in Colorado which he called "the missing link." He claimed this remarkable creature was more than a million years old, and carefully shipped the precious bones east, wrapped in cotton. A short time afterward it was discovered that the bones were those of a pet monkey, buried by some cowboys a dozen years previously.
But the relic long prized by evolutionists above all else is what is called "The Pithecanthropus Erectus." This is the scientific name given to a creature, half man and half ape, supposed to have lived in the island of Java. The discovery of its alleged bones was hailed with great glee by those whose theories are in such urgent need of substantiation. The great Haeckel promptly proclaimed this "the missing link." He said it demonstrated the truth of evolution.
It will scarcely be credited that these confident and extravagant claims rested on the discovery of two bones and two teeth! The bones were, respectively, a small piece of a skull and a piece of a thigh bone. They were found 45 feet apart. There was no evidence that they belonged together, but there is very good reason to believe that the skull was that of a modern ape, and the thigh bone human. This was the judgment of Prof. Virchow, the famous contemporary of Haeckel. It is the opinion of Prof. Cunningham of Dublin; it is the opinion of Prof. Osborn of New York. Prof. Wallis, of the University of Minnesota, recently stated (see Literary Digest, Feb. 28, 1925), "Certainly one can no longer accept the Java man as common ancestor."
In 1910 or 1911 a few little pieces of bone were found in Sussex, England, near an area known as Piltdown Common. Again it was heralded abroad that "the missing link" had been found. Evolutionists declared that "The Piltdown Man," half ape, half human, had lived there some 300,000 years ago. This caused no little excitement in scientific circles. But again sober investigation proved the assertion unfounded. In the Smithsonian report for 1913, republished in 1916 by the U. S. Government Printing Office, we learn that "The jaw and the tooth belong to a fossil chimpanzee." Prof. Miller, of the U. S. National Museum, is authority for this statement.
This is heartbreaking, but it must be told. These findings have been corroborated by a number of other scientists, such as Sir Ray Lankester, Prof. Waterson, and many others. Yet today an alleged reconstruction of this "Piltdown Man" is on exhibition in New York City, as an evidence of man's descent from the ape! And with it may be found similar "reconstructions" of "The Java Man" and "The Neanderthal Man." All this, of course, is purely imaginary and fictitious, as is also the bloodcurdling account of "OUR ANCESTOR," given by H. G. Wells in his "Outline of History."
Upon the fact that a human jaw of rather unusual formation was found in Germany in 1907, the theory of "The Heidelberg Man" has been built up. He also has been acclaimed as "The Missing Link." Yet living Eskimos today have the same jaw formation.
Within the last five years two skulls have been found in South Africa, each heralded as "The Missing Link."
The first is now referred to as "The Rhodesian Man." There is no good reason to doubt that this is the skull of a negro or other native African.
The second is the fossil skull of an ape. It is proposed to call this creature "Australopithicus Africanus." Its discoverer hopes to show that it belonged to a superior class of apes, now extinct. We have no objection to him proving this, but we fail to see what necessary connection would then exist between the ape and man.)
To illustrate the absurdities of this system, so gravely put out, with such a parade of scientific terms, let me tell you of some of its teachings. The original germ having started out in life without very much equipment along physical lines, according to Evolution, finally advanced to the stage where it needed eyes. How is it to get eyes? Oh, nothing simpler: Some animal (I was going to say "creature," but that word does not belong to Evolution), in the early days chanced to have on its head one or two places where the skin was thin, or where perhaps there were spots or freckles a little more sensitive than the rest of the skin. Finding the sensation agreeable, this animal got into the habit of turning the sensitive places to the sun. The peculiarities of its skin it passed on to succeeding generations, which also kept up the practice of exposing them to the sun, until finally a nerve developed, which was the beginning of the eye!
Now for legs. How about legs? Again, nothing simpler: Evolution supposes that some early legless specimen had warts, or excrescences on its body, and, while wiggling about in the slime and mud, found these protuberances quite a help. It could wiggle along better on the warts. This habit (together with the warts) was also passed on to succeeding generations. As time went by these excrescences became bigger and stronger, and finally developed into legs!
To be a thorough-going evolutionist you must swallow this preposterous nonsense (and a vast amount more) without a smile!
What a relief to turn away from this false and degrading system, and to hear the noble simplicity of God s own account of creation as given in His Word. Read Genesis, 2:7: "And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul." That is the origin of man. You are not descended from a monkey or a tadpole, or from a monad, but from Adam, who was created of God in His own image. What dignity is thus conferred upon man! How lofty the thought of God concerning him!
Note also (Gen. 1:26, 2726And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. 27So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. (Genesis 1:26‑27)) that man is not brought lightly or perfunctorily into being. His creation is not a matter of routine. A solemn conclave of the Godhead occurs. Man is its subject. And man, object thus of the divine solicitude, interest and affection, is created in the image and likeness of God-both to represent and resemble his Creator. He is brought into a scene (once created in perfection, then doubtless overwhelmed by some cataclysm, but restored and prepared for man), which now is perfectly adapted to him, and to which he is perfectly adapted.
The bodies Adam and Eve had were immortal, in a certain sense, for they were not necessarily subject to death. But unhappily something came in that wrought a change in those bodies. That something was SIN. Sin came in. Our first parents fell, and so we get that solemn verse in Romans 5:1212Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned: (Romans 5:12): "By one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned." That is a sobering thought. It is a solemn thought, and one that could be enlarged upon this afternoon if this were a gospel meeting.
In the scope of that verse we are all included. That is why we need a Savior; but I limit my remarks at present to the subject before me,—the body.
By reason of sin coming in, then, our bodies now are mortal. They are subject to death, and often bear upon them the marks of sickness and frailty. Every headache, every toothache, every twinge of pain reminds us of their true character. Scripture, taking cognizance of all this, speaks now of "our vile body"—i. e., "our body of humiliation." Phil. 3:2121Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself. (Philippians 3:21). Such are the results of sin coming into the world. Such the bodies in which we find ourselves.
Now behold a wonderful thing: Here is a poor sinner who hears about the Lord Jesus, and accepts Him as his Savior. He rests his soul firmly and completely on the finished work of Christ. A change now occurs in his body! You say: "Now what is he going to tell us?" I say this, that when a poor sinner believes the gospel of our salvation a very distinct thing happens to his body:—the Holy Ghost indwells it!
Is not that a wonderful thing? That body is indwelt by the Third Person of the Godhead. It becomes the temple of the Holy Ghost. God, the Holy Spirit, dwells thus in the believer. We might turn over to the sixth chapter of I Corinthians, and read verses 19 and 20, where this truth is revealed to us. The Holy Ghost is God; just as truly God as God the Father, and just as truly God as God the Son. The Holy Ghost dwells in the believer. What character, then, should be ours? How unsuitable to allow anything not consistent with this blessed, indwelling Spirit of God! And the Christian is always indwelt by the Holy Ghost, as long as he lives in this world.
There is something else about our bodies I would like to refer to. It is this: The day is coming when these bodies of ours are going to be glorified. How do you like that word—”glorified?" I like it. Our bodies are going to be glorified—going to be made glorious. They are not that now, bearing on them as we were remarking, the traces of decay, of infirmity, suffering,—every wrinkle of the brow, every gray hair speaking to us of the character of the scene we are in, and of what we are in ourselves. Yet these bodies are to be made like unto the body of Christ in glory! (Phil. 3:2121Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself. (Philippians 3:21).)
What a prospect is before the one who believes in Jesus,—how exalted, how blessed! Earthly things may well pale by contrast. And all the redeemed are to be gathered there, and all so fashioned.
Our souls are now redeemed (I speak, of course, to those who have accepted Christ), but our bodies are not yet. The body will be redeemed when in resurrection power it rises to be forever in that glory. This is at the coming of the Lord.
Another point now presents itself for our consideration: The body is not the person. There is something within that makes the person. We see that easily enough in the presence of death. We go, perhaps, into the room where the remains of a loved one are stretched out. We gaze upon the familiar form. The well-known features are there, but we know something vital is missing; we know it is not the person. So in the case of a believer, perhaps we say softly to one another: "She is with the Lord now," or "He is far better off. His sufferings are over," or the like.
What do we mean? Isn't the physical form—the body—there? Yes, but we know there is a certain something that is not there. What is that "something" that is not there? It is the part of our being that never dies. It is the soul. Men may kill the body, but the soul they cannot kill. (Matt. 10:2828And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. (Matthew 10:28).)
But this is not a complete answer to our question. The immortal part of our being is composed not only of soul, but also of spirit, as we were reminded at the beginning of these remarks, by that scripture in 1 Thess. 5:2323And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. (1 Thessalonians 5:23).
These unseen factors of our being constitute our personality, our individuality. Soul and spirit are the real person,—not the tenement of clay, not the body. Suppose a man has a leg cut off: Is he not the same person he was before? Certainly. Suppose he has both legs cut off, has his personality changed? Has his individuality changed. Not one particle.
No one has ever seen soul or spirit. Skeptics therefore object. This need not trouble us very much. There are many things neither we nor they have ever seen, and which, nevertheless, we all believe in. What strange inbred perversity is it in unregenerate man that makes him always dense, always uncomprehending, always stupid where the things of God are concerned? (2 Cor. 4:3, 43But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost: 4In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them. (2 Corinthians 4:3‑4) answers this, question.)
They tell us, then, that though the human body has often been dissected, no trace of soul or spirit has ever been found. But the surgeon's knife has never found genius, ambition, or imagination. It has never discovered love or hate or sympathy. Neither has it found wit or humor. There are many things the surgeon has never found, but they exist just the same. And so do soul and spirit.
The immortal part of our being, then, is composed of soul and spirit. These are distinct, yet never separated. Scripture distinguishes between them as Hebrews 4 clearly states, and as I hope presently to show, yet they are always linked together—soul and spirit!
The soul in the Bible has to do with man's appetites and emotions. The spirit has more to do with his intelligence. The soul has been called the lower part of our immortal being; the spirit the loftier part of our immortal being.
It is proper, however, to mention that in certain cases in Scripture one term is used for both, or even as comprehending body, soul and spirit. For instances of the latter note Gen. 46:2626All the souls that came with Jacob into Egypt, which came out of his loins, besides Jacob's sons' wives, all the souls were threescore and six; (Genesis 46:26): "All the souls that came—into Egypt—were three score and six." Also Acts 2:4141Then they that gladly received his word were baptized: and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls. (Acts 2:41): "The same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls." For instances of the former, see Luke 12:2020But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided? (Luke 12:20): "This night thy soul shall be required of thee."
I would like now to turn to a few scriptures where we get the character of the soul, as such, brought out. We might begin with Psalm 107:55Hungry and thirsty, their soul fainted in them. (Psalm 107:5): "Hungry and thirsty, their soul fainted in them." Psalm 107:99For he satisfieth the longing soul, and filleth the hungry soul with goodness. (Psalm 107:9): "He satisfieth the longing soul, and filleth the hungry soul with goodness." Psalm 107:1818Their soul abhorreth all manner of meat; and they draw near unto the gates of death. (Psalm 107:18): "Their soul abhorreth all manner of meat." See also Psalm 84:22My soul longeth, yea, even fainteth for the courts of the Lord: my heart and my flesh crieth out for the living God. (Psalm 84:2): "My soul longeth, yea, even fainteth for the courts of the Lord." Notice, young folks, the adjectives. You will see that for the most part they have to do with our feelings, appetites and desires.
Suppose we turn over to the New, Testament. In Luke 12:1919And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry. (Luke 12:19) we have the words of a rich man: "And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink and be merry." The baser appetites are here again connected with the soul. Look at I Peter 2:11: "Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul." There is a solemn word for us. God would have our emotional natures in fullest accord with His, but this cannot be when we allow evil desires to gain a footing there. We might also consider John 12:2727Now is my soul troubled; and what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour: but for this cause came I unto this hour. (John 12:27), where we have the Lord speaking as man: "Now is my soul troubled, and what shall I say?" Here was One in whom was no sin, and to whom the exhortation of Peter could not be addressed. But here, as usually with man, emotion is connected with the soul. We could turn to many more scriptures, but these for the present must suffice.
The spirit of man is that which specially distinguishes him from the lower creation. Animals have souls, of a low order, as is shown by Gen. 1, verses 20 and 30, where the word "life" should be rendered "soul"; and as is shown by Rev. 16:33And the second angel poured out his vial upon the sea; and it became as the blood of a dead man: and every living soul died in the sea. (Revelation 16:3), but no animal has a spirit.
The formation of man's spirit is declared in the Bible to be a distinct act of creation. See Zech. 12:11The burden of the word of the Lord for Israel, saith the Lord, which stretcheth forth the heavens, and layeth the foundation of the earth, and formeth the spirit of man within him. (Zechariah 12:1), where the Lord is affirmed to do three things: He "stretcheth forth the heavens," He ""layeth the foundation of the earth," and He "formeth the spirit of man within him."
As we have already remarked. the spirit of man is connected with his intelligence rather than his emotions, and is the loftier part of his immortal being. A man's character is formed by his spirit. Turn to Prov. 16:1818Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall. (Proverbs 16:18), where we learn it is "Better to be of an humble spirit." In Prov. 17:2222A merry heart doeth good like a medicine: but a broken spirit drieth the bones. (Proverbs 17:22) we read of "a broken spirit," and in Prov. 17:2727He that hath knowledge spareth his words: and a man of understanding is of an excellent spirit. (Proverbs 17:27) we are told that "a man of understanding is of an excellent spirit."
Turning to the New Testament, in Romans 8:1616The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: (Romans 8:16), we get "The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit that we are the children of God"—our spirit there being looked at as the channel of intelligence. Again look at I Cor. 2:11: "For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him."
Notice also that every man has a distinct and separate spirit given him of God. If it were not so it would be tiresome to meet people, for there would be no such thing as individuality. All would be more or less alike. Note in this connection Heb. 12:2323To the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect, (Hebrews 12:23), where the "spirits" (not "spirit") of just men made perfect are declared to be in heaven.
No animal can commune with God. Man can. His spirit is the faculty given him for this lofty and blessed purpose. Unhappily the soul and spirit of man have both been ruined by the fall and neither his emotional nature nor his intelligence now serve the purpose for which God gave them, excepting where a special work of saving grace comes in; and even then, as we know to our sorrow, owing to sin still being in us they serve that purpose imperfectly.
Someone has compared man,—body, soul and spirit,—to a three-story building. We will consider the lowest story to be a basement, in which the bulky stores for the house are kept. Here are a few tons of coal, a few sacks of flour or potatoes, a barrel of apples, and anything else you like to think of. This basement with its bulky supplies would correspond with the body.
In the second story perhaps the personal and intimate affairs of the house are carried on. Here the meals are eaten and enjoyed. Here also the ordinary joys and sorrows of the family are known. This would correspond with the soul.
The top story, to carry out the simile, we would have to suppose something like an observatory. From the top one would perhaps get a magnificent view of the surroundings, and of the heavens above. Here also one might have opportunity for quietness and meditation.
The top story, in this case, we might consider to represent the spirit.
To complete our illustration let us suppose that an earthquake shakes the building, and it collapses. Everything is in ruins. The second and third stories have fallen right down into the basement. What a spectacle! But this is a true picture of man's condition. For man is a ruined creature. He has fallen. He still has body, soul and spirit, of course, but they do not function as they should. All is tainted by sin. Thus the soul of the natural men does not enjoy God, and his spirit does not commune with Him. Heaven is shut out, and earth becomes the absorbing thing. God is forgotten. Thus we are confronted on every hand by the extraordinary spectacle of men, keen and alert about the things of this world, but without the least interest in the next, and yet, withal, knowing they are only here for a short season and must die, then to face that God whom now they ignore, and whose offers of mercy they spurn.
If a believer in Christ now dies, his soul and spirit go to be with the Lord, there in conscious blessedness to abide the resurrection day, when the body will be raised, and reunited with them. No trace of sin will then remain. Morally and physically we shall be like Him whom even here our souls have learned to love. Body, soul and spirit then, in the eternal joy of that unending day shall perfectly and unhinderedly fulfill the purpose of God concerning them.
May the Lord bless these thoughts to us, and use them for His own glory.
—J. R. GILL.
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