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life, and belong to that condition described in Hebrews as "for a little lower than the
angels" (Heb. 2: 7; see also 2: 14 and 17).
This corporeal body of flesh and blood is suggestive of weakness, transitoriness, and
dullness with regard to spiritual things:
"With him is an arm of flesh: but with us is the Lord our God" (II Chron. 32: 8).
"He remembered that they were but flesh; a wind that passeth away and cometh not
again" (Psa. 78: 39).
"Flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but My Father which is in heaven"
(Matt. 16: 17).
Soul and Spirit.--The soul stands for organic life. Adam was "natural", i.e.
"soul-ical"--a word derived from psuche. We read in Romans that "the Spirit is life"
(Rom. 8: 10), and this is true whether in the present sphere or in the glory. There is a
spirit of man and of beast (Eccles. 3: 21), and the body without the spirit is dead
(James 2: 26).
The outer man is perishing, but the inward man is renewed from day to day. With this
inward man the Apostle delighted in the law of God (Rom. 7: 22), and in this inward
body is distinct from this inner man, as the Apostle suggests in II Cor. 12::
"I knew a man in Christ above fourteen years ago (whether in the body I cannot tell;
or whether out of the body, I cannot tell; God knoweth" (II Cor. 12: 2).
The body can be killed by man, but not the soul (Matt. 10: 28); there is a definite
distinction between the two. The members of the body are spoken of as "instruments"
(Rom. 6: 13). They are the means whereby we see, hear, touch, etc., but it must be
remembered that it is we ourselves that do the seeing, or hearing or touching, and not
these organs.
The body is spoken of as a "sheath" (Dan. 7: 15), as "clothing" (Job 10: 11), as a
"house" (Job 4: 19), and as a "tent" (II Pet. 1: 13).
Such is a brief summary of the teaching of Scripture concerning man and his world.
We have purposely avoided lengthy arguments or extended quotations as we are not so
much seeking to teach or prove something hitherto unknown, as to bring together that
which we have already learned, so that as we proceed we may build securely upon a good
foundation. The nature and extent of man's legitimate dominion and the doctrine that
arises out of this is our immediate concern, and this article must be looked upon as a
preparation for the study of that subject. This we must reserve for our next paper.