Soul & Spirit - Same or Different?

[Jo S]

Originally Posted by Sons to Glory!

What is this!? You say you know Christ simply because you know the counterfeit? I don't think so. You know Christ by accepting Him to come live in you!

Paul makes it clear you can accept a different spirit at the preaching of a different Jesus. (2 Cor 11:4). That's why we are told to examine ourselves for this very reason. Testing and examining is not done by mere declarations. Testing is done by scripture, prayer, and by examining the fruit of a believer's faith. I'm sure the false converts in Matt 7:21-23 thought Christ was in them as well.

Originally Posted by Sons to Glory!

Yes, I read where you answered in the affirmative, but you also placed these extra caveats on your answers! It seems just declaring that Christ is in you is not good enough for you. Paul's "test" was real simple: Is Christ in you or not? No extra hoopla or fanfare. And you don't know Christ by knowing how bad the LC was. Come on!

I knew the real from the moment I was saved. I then knew the counterfeit from my time spent practicing mysticism before encountering the LC's. After repenting and being reconciled to the first, now I have certainty as the real Christ does not contradict scripture. Having that contrast is what provides certainty.

It's the same "christ" between all branches of Mysticism and the LC's, that's why I recognized it soon enough but apparently you have not. As for my 3rd declaration see my answer to Trapped.

[UntoHim]

Brothers and Sisters,

As fascinating and controversial as the nature of the indwelling Christ/Holy Spirit is, I think we better steer clear of those issues lest we wonder too far off the beaten path. My goodness, isn't this matter of the soul and human spirit challenging enough for us?

Originally Posted by Sons to Glory!

Please throw me a Humble Pie to eat!

No worries my brother, I'm been eating that pie for about 15 years now! It's practically my job description.

[Sons to Glory!]

Do you think this should be a separate discussion? I'm not sure - the topic about soul & spirit and the subsequent discussion regarding initial salvation (where in us does Christ come to dwell?) seems relevant to each other. Let us know what you think please

[UntoHim]

Well I really think that this matter of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit and Christ in us is only ancillary to the matter at hand, and may actually take us off the track. The recent back and forth between you and Jo here has been very interesting and "spirited", (pun intended) but I would really like to see us focus on the original premise of your opening post.
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[Sons to Glory!]

Let me reboot this conversation by saying I believe the Bible presents a substantial number of verses
showing that both soul and spirit are present in man and are different.

(and let's also set aside the whole "what is the practicality of knowing this?" question aside for now.)

[UntoHim]

Ok, while you're in the rebooting mode, are there any other questions you want to set aside? My brother, we already know what you believe, and what you think the Bible is showing, you made that perfectly clear in the opening post. So now the real question is: are you willing and able to defend your beliefs and contentions? A discussion is not much of a discussion if one of the parties is going to dig his heals in with the ole "The Bible says it, I believe it and that settles it!" That works on a bumper sticker on the back of a minivan, but in the real world of our little forum it is a super-frustrating non sequitur.

Nobody here is making the argument that the soul and the human spirit are the very same thing, at least not anyone that I've seen. The issue, as I see it, is what does the difference really mean to us mere mortals here on this third rock from the sun? I understand that you may still subscribe to the teaching that our human spirit is "the organ with which we contact God". This all sounds very exciting and enlightening, and even biblical, but I want to dig down a little deeper - let's get down to the brass tacks.

Maybe you can humor me for just a second: let me post a little excerpt from my post #21:

Originally Posted by UntoHim

All this happened without any of these crazy, inexperienced and naive, but sincere, baby-Christians having any knowledge or awareness that there was a difference between our spirit and our soul. I was pretty clueless that we even had "a human spirit". Can you imagine that ...I went around preaching the Gospel to family and friends, read the Bible, praised and worshiped the Lord "in Spirit and in truth" and sought to know the Lord with all my heart and strength...all this without knowing the difference between my soul and my human spirit!

So let's pretend we can jump into Doc Emmett Brown's time-machine and go back to 1975 and speak with this crazy, inexperienced and naive, but sincere baby-Christian who we will call "UntoHim". Let's talk some sense into this silly kid! Do you really think this bright eyed and bushy tailed punk is going to go with your
"I believe the Bible presents a substantial number of verses showing that both soul and spirit are present in man and are different." and run with that?
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[Sons to Glory!]

I know you've asked about the practicality of knowing that the soul & spirit are different several times, but it is the other thing I'd suggest setting aside for now regarding this thread's direction. This was sort a result of you first asking that we set aside the question of the indwelling Christ, since you thought it would just get us further off track, right? So my suggestion to shelve the practicality issue was essentially like-minded, in order to better keep us on track and more narrowly focused.

What I did have in mind (in my attempt to reboot this thread) is presenting verses which demonstrate that we do have a spirit that is something different from our soul. But I'm getting mixed-messages here, because you said, "Nobody here is making the argument that the soul and the human spirit are the very same thing."

So is it a foregone conclusion that everyone here believes the soul and spirit are different? If that's the case, then presenting verses to support that conclusion is probably a wasted effort.