Should We Only Pray For Our Soul And Not For Our Body?
Question : Should we neglect our body when we want our Soul to prosper, because we know Jesus said, "It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life." (John 6:63)? I believe we should only pray for our soul and not our body.
Answer : Yes Jesus said, "It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life." (John 6:63), but the context does speak about our physical flesh, but about our soulish flesh of self understanding against God's spiritual understanding that comes by the Spirit of God (1 Cor 2:14). Many disciples who followed Jesus misunderstood the saying of Jesus when He said, "He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him." (John 6:56). They thought as though Jesus was promoting cannibalism and grumbled against Jesus inside their heart, they misunderstood the spiritual message that Jesus conveyed because of having no Holy Spirit given light to understand the spiritual words of Jesus even though they followed Jesus outwardly (John 6:60-61). Jesus was actually saying that He who believes in the cleansing power of His blood that will be shed by Him for the forgiveness of their sins and He who believes the words of Jesus which He has commanded to keep, will live because Jesus will give them eternal life as a gift from God (John 3:16; 6:39-40; 10:28). In Jesus the eternal God who spoke the word of God became flesh and his blood became the means through which the covenant between God and man to supply God's forgiveness freely to all who believed this truth was established (John 1:14; Matt 26:26-28). So eating the flesh of Jesus means believing that Jesus has come from heaven from the Father God who has sent Him to us (John 6:51), and drinking the blood of Jesus means to believe the supernatural forgiveness of God that we all can receive through believing the truth of Jesus death and resurrection (1 Cor 11:23-26; Col 1:14; Eph 1:7; 1 Cor 15:16-17). It ultimately refers to enjoying the benefits which come to a believer when He is saved by His blood and believes to live by the words of Jesus, thus becoming as dead to sin and alive to God through the substitutional death of Jesus which has been personalized by him through believing (2 Sam 3:28; Psalm 30:9; Psalm 27:2; 1 Chronicles 11:19; Rom 6:10-11).
So John 6:63 does not speak about literal physical flesh and the human body. We should never ever use this above Scripture to speak about human body when it does not mean it or else it will be a total misinterpretation of the original meaning which it intends to convey.
Paul the apostle in one of his ministerial letters to his apostolic son Timothy says, "7 But reject profane and old wives’ fables, and exercise yourself toward godliness. 8 For bodily exercise profits a little, but godliness is profitable for all things, having promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come." (1 Tim 4:7-8). Through these above verses the apostle Paul clearly describes that all misinterpretation of Scriptures should be rejected, instead by believing the words of faith and of the good doctrine which is the exact interpretation of the original meaning that the Scripture conveys, we should exercise ourselves towards godliness because it will not only profits us for now through helping us to discipline us to exercise bodily for the present life, but also it helps us to grow spiritually strong and rich for the life to come after our physical death. Self-control is a fruit of the Spirit, but it is as much equally needed to maintain a good physical body as it is to our spiritual life (Gal 5:22-23). The above verses does not mean that physical exercise is of no value, but rather physical without spiritual exercise is of less value because it is temporary and is useful only until we die, but physical with spiritual exercise combined together will be of great value because we will be healthy both in our spiritual and physical body to live, praise God and glorify Him for eternity ahead.
We should pray for our body as well as our soul, but the first priority should be our soul (3 John 1:2). In other words when our soul prospers, automatically God's blessing will come upon us to be active physically in our bodies. As our body is the temple of God in which God lives, we should take proper care for it. If we destroy it knowingly, God has told that He will destroy us (1 Cor 3:16-17). Taking heed of the warning, we should carefully keep our soul in a beautiful state and also take responsibility to maintain a healthy lifestyle even if we cannot keep a rigorous exercise schedule to keep a six-pack. It is our duty to pray to God for His blessings in our soul, as well as for our body to be healthy and prosperous (Psa 103:2-3).
Asceticism is the doctrine that the ascetic life releases the soul from bondage to the body and permits union with the divine. It is the wrong belief of Hinduism and yogic lifestyle in paganism that believes that through renunciation of worldly pleasures it is possible to achieve a high spiritual or intellectual state. But we in Christianity believes that it is a demonic doctrine of men promoted by self-imposed religion that actually is against the Christian believer's way of overcoming all shortcomings and weakness of our soul and body through the power of the Holy Spirit that works within us (Col 2:21-23; 1 John 4:4; Gal 5:16; Rom 13:14; Gal 3:27). There are many people in Christianity who take care of their soul and neglect their body to die early before the time God has set for them (Psa 139:16; 102:24). They will all have to give account to God on that day of judgment for their early demise due to their own foolishness (Heb 9:27; 2 Cor 5:10-11). So we must take care of our soul as well as our body (1 Peter 2:11). Taking care of our body is a good quality decision. One can easily neglect one's body when we are spiritually inclined (Col 2:23). So it is true that when we take care of our soul, God will help us take care of our body properly, but still we must discipline ourselves in order to cooperate with God and set time to walk or jog and pray everyday at the same time which will take care of both (1 Thess 5:17; Luke 18:1; 1 Cor 9:27).
Much Blessings....
Answer : Yes Jesus said, "It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life." (John 6:63), but the context does speak about our physical flesh, but about our soulish flesh of self understanding against God's spiritual understanding that comes by the Spirit of God (1 Cor 2:14). Many disciples who followed Jesus misunderstood the saying of Jesus when He said, "He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him." (John 6:56). They thought as though Jesus was promoting cannibalism and grumbled against Jesus inside their heart, they misunderstood the spiritual message that Jesus conveyed because of having no Holy Spirit given light to understand the spiritual words of Jesus even though they followed Jesus outwardly (John 6:60-61). Jesus was actually saying that He who believes in the cleansing power of His blood that will be shed by Him for the forgiveness of their sins and He who believes the words of Jesus which He has commanded to keep, will live because Jesus will give them eternal life as a gift from God (John 3:16; 6:39-40; 10:28). In Jesus the eternal God who spoke the word of God became flesh and his blood became the means through which the covenant between God and man to supply God's forgiveness freely to all who believed this truth was established (John 1:14; Matt 26:26-28). So eating the flesh of Jesus means believing that Jesus has come from heaven from the Father God who has sent Him to us (John 6:51), and drinking the blood of Jesus means to believe the supernatural forgiveness of God that we all can receive through believing the truth of Jesus death and resurrection (1 Cor 11:23-26; Col 1:14; Eph 1:7; 1 Cor 15:16-17). It ultimately refers to enjoying the benefits which come to a believer when He is saved by His blood and believes to live by the words of Jesus, thus becoming as dead to sin and alive to God through the substitutional death of Jesus which has been personalized by him through believing (2 Sam 3:28; Psalm 30:9; Psalm 27:2; 1 Chronicles 11:19; Rom 6:10-11).
So John 6:63 does not speak about literal physical flesh and the human body. We should never ever use this above Scripture to speak about human body when it does not mean it or else it will be a total misinterpretation of the original meaning which it intends to convey.
Paul the apostle in one of his ministerial letters to his apostolic son Timothy says, "7 But reject profane and old wives’ fables, and exercise yourself toward godliness. 8 For bodily exercise profits a little, but godliness is profitable for all things, having promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come." (1 Tim 4:7-8). Through these above verses the apostle Paul clearly describes that all misinterpretation of Scriptures should be rejected, instead by believing the words of faith and of the good doctrine which is the exact interpretation of the original meaning that the Scripture conveys, we should exercise ourselves towards godliness because it will not only profits us for now through helping us to discipline us to exercise bodily for the present life, but also it helps us to grow spiritually strong and rich for the life to come after our physical death. Self-control is a fruit of the Spirit, but it is as much equally needed to maintain a good physical body as it is to our spiritual life (Gal 5:22-23). The above verses does not mean that physical exercise is of no value, but rather physical without spiritual exercise is of less value because it is temporary and is useful only until we die, but physical with spiritual exercise combined together will be of great value because we will be healthy both in our spiritual and physical body to live, praise God and glorify Him for eternity ahead.
We should pray for our body as well as our soul, but the first priority should be our soul (3 John 1:2). In other words when our soul prospers, automatically God's blessing will come upon us to be active physically in our bodies. As our body is the temple of God in which God lives, we should take proper care for it. If we destroy it knowingly, God has told that He will destroy us (1 Cor 3:16-17). Taking heed of the warning, we should carefully keep our soul in a beautiful state and also take responsibility to maintain a healthy lifestyle even if we cannot keep a rigorous exercise schedule to keep a six-pack. It is our duty to pray to God for His blessings in our soul, as well as for our body to be healthy and prosperous (Psa 103:2-3).
Asceticism is the doctrine that the ascetic life releases the soul from bondage to the body and permits union with the divine. It is the wrong belief of Hinduism and yogic lifestyle in paganism that believes that through renunciation of worldly pleasures it is possible to achieve a high spiritual or intellectual state. But we in Christianity believes that it is a demonic doctrine of men promoted by self-imposed religion that actually is against the Christian believer's way of overcoming all shortcomings and weakness of our soul and body through the power of the Holy Spirit that works within us (Col 2:21-23; 1 John 4:4; Gal 5:16; Rom 13:14; Gal 3:27). There are many people in Christianity who take care of their soul and neglect their body to die early before the time God has set for them (Psa 139:16; 102:24). They will all have to give account to God on that day of judgment for their early demise due to their own foolishness (Heb 9:27; 2 Cor 5:10-11). So we must take care of our soul as well as our body (1 Peter 2:11). Taking care of our body is a good quality decision. One can easily neglect one's body when we are spiritually inclined (Col 2:23). So it is true that when we take care of our soul, God will help us take care of our body properly, but still we must discipline ourselves in order to cooperate with God and set time to walk or jog and pray everyday at the same time which will take care of both (1 Thess 5:17; Luke 18:1; 1 Cor 9:27).
Much Blessings....
Share:
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment