2Corinthians 5:17 (Amplified) says, "Therefore, if any person is (ingrafted) in Christ Jesus (the Messiah) he is a new creation (a new creature altogether); the old (previous moral and spiritual condition) has passed. Behold, the fresh and new has come."
For many years, we have viewed the soul and the spirit are one in the same. Many still believe that they are the same, today. As far as God is concerned, when we received Jesus as our Lord and Savior, He now sees our old sinful body of flesh as already dead. Romans 6:3-7 (Amplified) says, "Are you ignorant of the fact that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? We were buried therefore with Him by the baptism into death, so that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glorious (power) of the Father, so we too might (habitually) live and behave in newness of life." Verses 5-7 go on, saying, "For if we have become one with Him by sharing a death like His, we shall also be (one with Him in sharing) His resurrection (by a new life lived for God). We know that our old (unrenewed) self was nailed to the cross with Him in order that (our) body (which is the instrument) of sin might be made ineffective and in active for evil; that we might no longer be the slaves of sin. For when a man dies, he is freed (loosed, delivered) from (the power of) sin (among men)."
When we were created new in our union with Jesus, God accounted our old body to be as dead as Jesus' body on the cross. By that same power that raised Jesus from the dead, we were already raised with Him, according to Ephesians 2:5-6 (Amplified) which says, "Even when we were dead (slain) by (our own) shortcomings and trespasses, He made us alive together in fellowship and in union with Christ; (He gave us the very life of Christ Himself, the same new life with which He quickened Him for) it is by grace (His favor and mercy which you did not deserve) that you are saved (delivered from judgement and made partakers of Christ's salvation) And He raised us up together with Him and made us sit down together (giving us joint seating with Him) in the Heavenly sphere (by virtue of our being) in Christ Jesus (the Messiah, the Anointed One)."
For much of our Christian walk, we have looked at the above scriptures as being "future events." The truth is that God has already done these things in the believer's life. It is true that our natural bodies haven't been resurrected from the earth yet, but as far as God is concerned, it died with Jesus and the new creation (the living Spirit in Jesus) is already raised by the same life that is in Jesus Himself.
Even though it's connected to his spirit, the soul of a man is unrenewed to the life of the new creation. The proof of this is that our soul (our mind, our will, our emotions, our natural senses) still act like they did, before our new creation being was alive. Jesus gives the account of the "Rich Man and the Beggar (Lazarus)" in Luke 16:20-24 (Amplified). Both of these men died and were buried, but Lazarus was carried to The Bosom of Abraham, by the angels and the rich man went to Hades (the realm of the dead). Keep in mind, that both men were now dead in their bodies and their brain was still in their buried bodies.
Jesus says in Verses 23-24, "And in Hades, being in torment, he (the rich man) lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham far away, and Lazarus in his bosom. And he cried out and said, Father Abraham, have pity and mercy on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am in anguish in this flame."
So, even in physical death (brain included), the rich man could still think, remember, see and recall his former life of the flesh. This man wasn't born-again and his body was buried in the earth, but he had his faculties about him. This is the soul, that is in connection with his spirit. We are three-fold beings: we are a spirit, we have a soul, and we live in this physical body. When we are born-again, our spirit is made (created) new in Christ Jesus. Our body of flesh is considered to be dead by our identification with Jesus, our soul (that was what directed our lives up to this point) is still in tact with our new creation spirit being.
Now, you can better understand what Paul said in Romans 12:2 (Amplified), "Do not be conformed to this world (this age). (Fashioned after and adapted to its external, superficial customs) but be transformed (changed) by the (entire) renewal of your mind (by its new ideals and its new attitude) so that you may prove (for yourselves) what is the good and acceptable, and perfect will of God, even the thing which is good and acceptable and perfect (in His sight for you)."
Your flesh is dead to God, your spirit is alive in total unity with Him, but the soul still remembers all the things it has been taught throughout our natural lives. Since our new creation spirit is still a baby (a newborn from the dead) and our flesh is only a servant to what it receives, our soul is more in control of what we think and do, than our new creation spirit man is. Psalm 23:3 (Amplified) says that, "The Lord restores my soul." Proverbs 22:17-18 (Amplified) says, "Listen (consent and submit) to the words of the wise, and apply your mind to My knowledge For it will be pleasant if you keep them in your mind (believing them) your lips will be accustomed to (confessing) them." Proverbs 23:12 (Amplified) says, "Apply your mind to instructions and correction and your ears to words of knowledge."
The soulish realm trained our reasoning faculties and intellect in fleshly training, over the years. Romans 8:6-7 (Amplified) says, "Now the mind of the flesh (which is sense and reason without the Holy Spirit) is death (death which comprises all the miseries arising from sin, both here and hereafter). But the mind of the Holy Spirit is Life and (soul) peace (both now and forever). (That is) because the mind of the flesh (with its carnal thoughts and purposes) is hostile to God, for it does not submit itself to God's Law; indeed it cannot."
2Corinthians 10:3-5 (Amplified) tells us, "For though we walk (live) in the flesh, we are not carrying on our warfare according to the flesh, and using mere human weapons. For the weapons of our warfare are not physical (weapons of flesh and blood) but they are mighty before God for the overthrow and destruction of strongholds (In as much as we) refute arguments and theories and reasonings and every proud and lofty thing that sets itself up against the (true) knowledge of God, and we lead every thought and purpose away captive into the obedience of Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One)."
The above scriptures tell us that, it's not that the new creation didn't work, but we did not train the soul, that still remembers the training it had in the world. It continues to think and act, like it did before we were created new and the flesh is still being controlled by the impulses of the unrenewed mind of our old man of sin. Paul says, we have been "conformed to the world," by the teachings of the world. Now, we must learn to "renew" our mind by the Spirit of God (the mind of Christ). We must bring the flesh into subjection to our new creation spirit, by the Word of God.
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