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 (Genesis 2:7). God’s breath gave man life as a living soul. God breathed a spirit into man – not a full portion of the Spirit of God, but a spirit of man. God gave mankind a free will and one “not” commandment. But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die (Genesis 2:17 KJV). God gave mankind all that He created and all that He created was good. Even Satan was created good, but iniquity was found in him. Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee (Ezekiel 28:15). The same Satan used reason to tempt man to sin. For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil (Genesis 3:5 KJV). Through reason Satan damaged the spirit of man.
For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart (Hebrews 4:12). The scriptures make a discerning difference between the soul, spirit, and heart. Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind (Matthew 22:37 KJV). It is in the heart that one believes and the conversion process begins. That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved (Romans 10:9 KJV). The word used in Genesis 2:7 for soul means the body and the mind (what makes us different from other animals). That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; and be renewed in the spirit of your mind; and that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness (Ephesians 4:22-24 KJV).
A good man out of the good treasure of the heart bringeth forth good things: and an evil man out of the evil treasure bringeth forth evil things (Matthew 12:35 KJV). For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies (Matthew 15:19). Out of the heart of an evil man (fallen man) comes evil. Out of the heart of a good (saved man) comes good. There is a battlefield in the mind of a believer. The believer has given to God their heart and it is the heart that God sees. But Satan comes to battle us in our mind. It was in the mind that Satan came to deceive Eve and conquer Adam. From the mind he perverted the heart. We surrender our heart to Jesus and then set out to renew our mind to the mind of Christ. For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High (Isaiah 14:13-14 KJV). Satan wants to establish his throne above the throne of God. The throne of God is in our heart, so Satan wants his throne to be in our mind.
The soul is our physical body and our mind, the things of the flesh. Once the mind, through reason and partaking of the temptations of the flesh, has turned away from God, the heart becomes bad. But God seeks to heal the heart of the humble. For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy; I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite one (Isaiah 57:15). The heart is where the Spirit of God dwells. A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh (Ezekiel 36:26). After conversion, the battles are not over. Truly Jesus has won the victory, but the enemy attacks our mind through reason and temptations of the flesh. The mind is flesh. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be (Romans 8:7). The helmet of salvation protects our mind, while the breastplate of righteousness guards our heart.
We speak from our heart those things that are not as if they were. It is from our heart that we speak the things that our mind cannot see in its carnal state. As an evil man (fallen man) corrupts his mind from an evil heart, a good (saved) man allows Jesus to speak life to the mind from a redeemed heart. It is from the abundance of the heart that we speak (see Matthew 12:34). Once a man surrenders his heart to the Lord, the mind must be renewed with the washing of the word. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God (Romans 12:2). Mankind knows both good and evil and has perverted that which was evil and called it good. Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; who put darkness for light, and light for darkness; who put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter! (Isaiah 5:20). The battlefield is in the mind, but our supply line comes from the heart, be it good or evil.
© 2008, Tim D. Coulter Sr.