2Corinthians 5:17-18 (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. But all things are from God, Who through Jesus Christ reconciled us to Himself (received us into favor, brought us into harmony with Himself) and gave to us the ministry of reconciliation (that by word and deed we might aim to bring others into harmony with Him)."
The part of our new creation man that's been hardest to curb, is our soulish part. The spirit was made instantly new when we received Jesus as our Lord and Savior. We received the Life of God once again into our spirit and instantly became new creation. Our body (the fleshly, sensual man) is the house our spirit lives in, had been trained by our soul (or senses) since the fall of Adam.
As a result of Adam's transgression, our spirit was separated from God and dwelt in spiritual death, because God is Life and our soulish man was now controlled by only our soulish intellect and feelings. The most difficult part of walking out our new creation man, has been with the renewing our minds (which is part of our soulish man) by the Life of God's Word and bring it back into subjection to our spirit. We can read the Word with our intellect, but still not receive revelation into our spirit, where it would produce this new creation in wholeness.
Our minds (which were carnal or sensual), wouldn't receive the Word as Truth, because it was spiritual in nature and our minds (senses) were programmed by the world, senses and the carnal things of this fallen (lost) world. Paul writes in 1Corinthians 2:14 (Amplified) saying, "The natural, nonspiritual man does not accept or welcome or admit into his heart (spirit) the Gifts and teachings and revelations of the Spirit of God, for they are folly (meaningless nonsense) to hi; and he is incapable of knowing them (of progressively recognizing, understanding, and becoming better acquainted with them) because they are spiritually discerned and estimated and appreciated."
The thing that led us for centuries, has now that we are born-again, become our downfall and doesn't recognize the Truth of God's Word in our lives. Until being born-again, our soul, along with our senses and their outside directions, had been our teacher. After receiving the new birth, these have become our enemy, because they don't understand the new creation being (which is spiritual). All it knows, is what it has learned from the worldly realm and how we were raised. The things of the Spirit, are from the spiritual realm and cannot be understand by these things.
As born-again people of God, we must allow the Lord (by the Holy Spirit) to restore or renew our soul. Man's soul was to receive Wisdom from our spirit, which was to receive from the Spirit of God. And, as we receive guidance and Wisdom from God into our spirit, our spirit is to teach our soulish man and physical body how to live on earth, according to the Father's plan. We were spirit people, living in a natural body that we could contact this natural earth. But, our bodies were to be dominated and ruled by our spirit.
Adam's transgression caused his contact and union with God to be severed, leaving him with only his senses to guide him. His soul or senses could not longer guide him from within, but only from what they could come into contact with from the outside. The entire planet then came under the domain of the enemy, so all that could come from our soul or senses, was strictly of the sense realm.
Today, even though we're born-again, much of the Church still walks more in the senses, than in the spirit. Our new creation spirit man, is still being fed more from education, rather than by revelation. Educations comes into the mind and senses, while revelation comes into the new creation man by the spirit. This has caused separation in the Church, since it's birth. Many have denied the Super-natural things of God, because they are spiritually discerned and are "folly" or "nonsense" to the natural man. They make no sense to the sense-ruled Christian. The sense-ruled Christians has built our own traditions and our own religions from the Word of God (which is Spirit), because we don't receive the Word into our spirit by a renewed mind or restored soul.
Psalms 23:3 (Amplified) says, "He refreshes and restores my life (my self). He leads me in the paths of righteousness (upright and right standing with Him-not for my earning it, but) for His Name's sake." The King James Bible says, "He restores my soul." The unrenewed soul tries earning righteousness by acts of the flesh, while the restored soul or renewed mind receives the revelation of restored right standing through Christ Jesus, into the new creation spirit. This might seem like "splitting hairs" to some, but it's vital that our new carnal minds receive revelation and not education. Your carnal mind can be educated and can read the Bible and can comprehend the words, but only the renewed mind or restored soul can allow the Life of the Word to flow from your spirit, into the natural man and senses. Without the restoring of the soul, the Word is simply education.
Psalm 19:7 (Amplified) tells us, "The Law of the Lord is perfect, restoring the (whole) person; the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple." 3 John 1:2-3 (Amplified) says, "Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in every way and (that your body) may keep well, even as (I know) your soul keeps well and prospers. In fact, I greatly rejoiced when (some of) the brethren from time to time arrived and spoke (so highly) of the sincerity and fidelity of your life, as indeed you do live in the Truth (the whole Gospel presents)."
There must have been some who were "living and walking" in what John called "the whole Gospel," and some who had not achieved the "soul peace" he wrote about in 2John 1:3 (Amplified) saying, "Grace ( spiritual blessing) mercy, and (soul) peace will be with us, from God the Father and from Jesus Christ (the Messiah) the Father's Son, in all sincerity (Truth) and Love."
Many consider the soul and spirit, to be one and the same, but God's Word divides the spirit, soul, and body into three separate parts of the same person. All of these parts must be brought back into the unity of the new creation, by the Word and the Holy Spirit. 1Thessalonians 5:23 (Amplified) says, "And may the God of Peace Himself sanctify you through and through (separate you from profane things, and make you pure and wholly consecrated to God) and may your spirit, soul, and body, be preserved sound and complete (and found) blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ (the Messiah)."
According to Psalm 23:3, Jesus not only can, but will, restore our soul. To "restore" a house or building, means to bring it back to its original state. God doesn't just make us a new creation in our new, born-again spirit, but He fully intends to bring us back "wholly, spirit, soul, and body." He began in the new birth of our spirit, by the renewing of our minds and the training of our senses and by allowing our soul to be converted by His Word. And, according to 3John, He even brings back healing to our natural body. This is what John called the "whole Gospel" and it included the spirit, the soul, and even healing and health for the natural body.
The Life of God has flooded into our new creation spirit and now by restoring the soul or renewing our minds and sense by the Word, we allow this new Life to flow through the entire new creation being (spirit, soul, and body). We've allowed our unrenewed mind and fallen, worldly, soulish man to determine how much of the Truth of God's Word will be accepted in our lives. The restored soul, will allow the Truth of God's full Gospel to flow into our daily lives. The restored soul will transmit this Truth from us, into the healing and lives of others.
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