Man, as at present constituted, is bounded by feeling and sensation,

and thus came from the hands of his Maker as a living soul.

There is a system of theology which refers disparagingly to the soul

and almost treats it as though it were sinful.  This or that action is

referred to as being soulish, the inference being that in the believer, the

soul should be treated almost as if it were the old nature and given over to

death.  Such an attitude is not Scriptural, it is in fact a libel upon God as

Creator, for as we have seen, Adam left the Hands of his Maker a living soul

and a perfect creation.  The apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 15 does not

hesitate to say concerning the body:

'It is sown a natural (Gk. psuchikos -- soulish) body (the act of

creation); it is raised a spiritual body.  There is a natural (soulish)

body, and there is a spiritual body.  And so it is written, The first

man Adam was made a living soul ... Howbeit that was not first which is

spiritual, but that which is natural (soulish)' (1 Cor. 15:44 -46).

Scripture nowhere asserts that the soul has to be modified or

annihilated when a person believes in Christ.  Saved people can take the

delights of the eye and the ear and the other bodily senses as gracious gifts

from our Heavenly Father's hands, Who has given us all things richly to

enjoy.  It is all a question of balance and proportion; of legitimate use and

not abuse.  Some Christians are trying to live as though they consisted only

of a body and a new nature.  They are trying to fit in now what will only be

true in resurrection, namely, a spiritual body.  Such a course of action can

only result in lopsidedness of Christian character, however 'spiritual' it

may appear on the surface.  We write like this because we feel sure some are

needlessly in bondage over these things.

There is a sphere, however, where the soul is rigorously excluded.

This is the realm of worship.  In the Gospels both the Father and the Son are

represented as seekers:

'For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost'

(Luke 19:10).

'But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall

worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such

to worship Him.  God is spirit: and they that worship Him must worship

Him in spirit and in truth' (John 4:23,24).

With the same intensity that the Son seeks the lost, so the Father

seeks true worshippers.  As He scrutinizes the various sects of Christendom

specially on Sundays, how many does He find?

The only worship He can accept is that which comes from the new nature

(spirit).  It must be truly in spirit and not just from the senses (the

soul).  In other words we cannot worship God by looking at ritual, however

beautiful it is, or by listening to music, or joining in singing, however

fine or exquisite this may be to the ear.  All such worship comes from the

domain of the soul, and while the senses can be employed in true worship they

must not originate it.  Rather they should be the external expression of the

true desires and the praise and adoration of the new nature.

The apostle Paul stresses the same truth in Philippians 3:3: