Quick Answer: Yes.
Key Scriptures:
I Thes 5:23 “…your whole <pneuma> and <psuche>
and <soma> be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus
Christ.” This seems to clearly establish that “we” are each composed of
a body, soul and spirit and that each of those three entities has some
distinction between them.
Mt 16:17 "for <sarx> and blood hath not revealed
it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven..." Here
<sarx> means the physical world and in particular physical humans. I think this verse alone is sufficient to say
that there is some form of communication between the spiritual, non-material
realm; and the physical realm we are living in now. Of course Jesus is a physical embodiment of
that, but here Peter comes to understand something in his brain that clearly is
not a result of physical inputs.
II Cor 5:8 “…willing rather to be absent from the
<soma>, and to be present with the Lord.” Although the word <soma> does not have
to refer "only" to the flesh, it certainly includes the flesh. I don't see how to understand Paul's
sentiment without having a view that a person is both flesh and soul-spirit
[Note: for a discussion of how and why I
use the term "soul-spirit" or <psuche-pneuma>, see here]. We know that God is spirit [John 4:24].
Certainly to be present with the Lord is to be in the spiritual
realm. To be absent from the body is to
be dead. So, when we are dead, there is
a spiritual part of us that exists and is with God. Also note that Paul is referring to himself
and showing that he can be absent from the body and still exist - he can be
present somewhere else. Thus a
"person" must have more than just flesh.
John 4:24 “God is <pneuma>…”
Joh 6:63 "The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for
nothing. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life." You cannot believe in Jesus without believing
in a spiritual world. And you certainly
can't understand His teachings without believing in a spiritual world. In fact, a central tenet of Jesus' teaching
is that the spiritual world is of primary
importance. When he tells people to
"eat my <sarx>", He is forcing them to see the most material of
all material things (i.e. <sarx>) in a spiritual way.
You need
to believe in a spiritual realm to understand Gal 2:20.
Heb 1:7 Angels
are <pneuma>. There are also evil <pneuma>. I don't see how these beings can be understood
in Scripture without a firm belief in a supernatural world that interacts with
the natural world in some way.
John 4:23 “…worship the Father in <pneuma> and in
truth…”
Caveat:
I think
someone can become a Christian without knowing much of anything...but then they
learn! So, it may be that a new
Christian hasn't even thought about the spiritual realm yet and has no opinion
on it. But any Christian, once they have
considered the whole concept, must come away with the view that there is a
spiritual realm.
I strayed
from my original question a bit. My
original question focuses on the human soul, but in many of the verses, I've
looked at a broader view: the existence of the "spiritual realm" in general. The "soul" or "spirit" or
"soul-spirit" of human beings is, at least to some extent, a part of
that spiritual realm. The point here is
to show that belief in a spiritual realm is fundamental to Christian belief, and
that includes the idea that human beings have a "soul" that is
non-material (ok, well, at the very least, the soul is not composed of the
material substances currently known and recognized by science).
Related Scriptures
and Thoughts:
When the
word <pneuma> is used, it would certainly seem to imply something that is
not the flesh. But I also take it to
mean that it is something that is not physical either – or at least not a
material thing or entity made of atoms.
The <pneuma> is not something you can sense – you can only see the
outworkings of it in the physical world.
Also, you
can't successfully live the Christian life without focusing on the spiritual
component of your life over and above the material, fleshly component. Rom 8:5 "Those who live according to the
<sarx> have their minds <phroneo> set on what that <sarx>
desires." Living according
to either the <sarx> or the <pneuma> is a mindset. Making that moment by moment choice seems to
be the central struggle of living the Christian life. How do we decide that the spiritual is more
important than the physical? It seems
that our <psuche-pneuma> is caught in the middle and being pulled in two
directions: our <sarx> is
constantly dragging us toward the physical and the Holy Spirit is constantly encouraging
us toward the spiritual. I found it
helpful to visualize that tug-of-war. It
is a daily challenge.
Rom 8:7 "the sinful mind <sarx phronema> is
hostile to God. It does not submit to
God’s law, nor can it do so."
That last phrase seems critical.
It is not possible to reform the <sarx>. It is not possible to save the <sarx>. The <sarx> must die. (see also I Cor 5:5) The only way of salvaging the person, any
person, is through the salvation of the <psuche-pneuma>. The <sarx> will not decide to stop
being selfish. It just won’t.
Discussion:
I thought
this question would be obvious from the beginning, and scripture does seem
clear. Still, it seemed important to
establish this point first. You can't
have a fully materialistic view of the universe and claim to be a Christian.
Christians
struggle to focus on the spiritual over the material - it is not easy! On a practical level, we can often act as if
we only see and acknowledge the material world.
When Christians do that, they look ugly.
The issue
of whether a spiritual realm exists is a fundamental difference in
"belief" between science and Christianity. In fact, I would say it might be the fundamental difference. Oddly, I don't hear much discussion about
this. Instead the arguments are about
less fundamental differences. Side
issues, really [see here for elaboration of that point]. The important point to recognize is that this
fundamental difference has to
exist. Science has to be grounded in a materialistic assumption and it ceases to
be science if you ground it on the spiritual.
Further, as we have discussed in this entry, Christianity ceases to be
Christianity if you ground it on the material.
The problem is that sometimes we mistake these a priori assumptions for a conclusion. Science doesn't conclude that the universe is
material only - it starts on that assumption.
Christianity (and many other religions) start with the assumption that
there is a spiritual realm in addition to the material world. Those are opposing assumptions. It's not a point of disagreement, it's a
difference in "initial conditions."
You can't really argue about the initial conditions - they just are what
they are.
My
interest is in understanding how to view the "brain-mind"
problem. It is fun to consider what the
difference is between neurons firing in the brain and our thoughts, and even
science hasn't figured out an answer.
But, given that science is confined to the material world, science is
working hard to come up with an explanation of the "mind" that is
based entirely on known material substances.
The point for the Christian
scientist is this: the idea of the soul
as non-material is a non-negotiable part of their faith. That's what I wanted to know in my study of
this topic. Science will never find the
soul. We just have to recognize that
impasse and move on.
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