A Timeless Tale – Chapter Twenty One – Ad Crucem Christi

Living a Life in the Kingdom of God – Continued

In the previous chapter we discussed the three part make up of humanity, body, soul and spirit. (http://biblehub.com/1_thessalonians/5-23.htm} We discussed the first part – the body, now we will look at the next part – the soul.

The Soul

The Soul, consists of the intellect, or mind as it is more commonly referred to, emotion and the will.

The intellect is that part of the soul which deals with reason.

It is the home of our thoughts, our conscious and sub-conscious state. It is a very vital component, which has much effect on the voluntary body activities. It does not control body function, as that is the duty of the brain.

For instance, our intellect may reason that our body needs exercise and therefore we will proceed to voluntarily go through an exercise routine. We might, in response to involuntary hunger signals from the brain, to voluntarily prepare a meal and eat it. In an instance of fear, our intellect would process whether we should fight or run. Again, this is a voluntary decision on the part of our intellect.

Emotion is that part of the soul that emits signals of feelings to the body.

If one receives news of the death of a loved one, this could trigger feelings of shock and produce tears from the eyes (the body). If you are in love with someone this could trigger deep longing to be in their company or intense desire and sexual stimulation when you are close to that person. If a dog rushes up to you whilst you are walking down the road, baring its teeth and growling, the feeling of fear is triggered and you will wish to defend yourself.

Will is that part of the mind that chooses and makes decisions.

This section of the soul is self explanatory. We will choose our thoughts; we will decide which course to take, for instance.

In the sense of the above expressions and explanations the scriptures do not make direct reference, to these parts, apart from the will that is.

What the scriptures do explain, however, is the issue of the ‘heart’, not the organ by the same name, but the spiritual place, unseen, yet within our beings. This is an important item as the soul and its units as described above is part of the spiritual heart.

Let me give you a few examples here:

The following scriptures refer to the, “thoughts of the heart”:

http://biblehub.com/genesis/6-5.htm KJV

http://biblehub.com/hebrews/4-12.htm KJV

As thoughts are part of the intellect, the above scriptures prove that the intellect is part of the (spiritual) heart.

The following scripture refers to ‘feelings’ in the heart:

http://biblehub.com/john/16-6.htm and http://biblehub.com/john/16-22.htm KJV

Sorrow and Joy are feelings and feelings, parts of emotions. They too are found in the spiritual heart.

Lastly, the following scriptures say that ‘purpose’ and ‘intents’ (which are part of the will), are also found in the heart:

http://biblehub.com/acts/11-23.htm and http://biblehub.com/hebrews/4-12.htm KJV

Is this casting some light of understanding your way?

Very simply put the intellect, emotion and the will, which are parts of the soul and have no direct spiritual reference, are in fact, part of the ‘heart’. The heart is the spiritual element.

Next week we shall deal with the importance of the spirit, because whilst we are commanded love
(worship) God, , we are only able to do this via our spirits.

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