The Holy & Unholy Spirits

1. Spiritual Beings

 An Introduction

     We are fleshly, material people living in a materialistic culture.  For us, the “spirit world” is rarely even thought of, let alone a subject we study or are comfortable discussing. 

1. What is a “spiritual being”?

     Popular conceptions - evil spirits to placate, guardian angels, animism (attributing life to nature and natural objects); spirits as conscious/personal beings vs. attitudes (a spirit of jealousy, a patriotic spirit, kindred spirits); I will be with you “in spirit” (i.e. “thinking of you”).

     Because the French Enlightenment was based on a return to old Greek philosophical materialism and naturalism (only the material realm/matter exists and natural processes alone shape it and underlie what happens), the spiritual and supernatural realm was assumed to be non-existent/unreal.  When intellectuals say that God, the devil, demons, angels “do not exist,” they are not speaking from factual/experimental scientific knowledge, but from their worldview and philosophical presuppositions.

     Atheists may “believe” that life arose by accident from inanimate chemicals if they wish, but they have no observational or laboratory evidence to confirm that such could occur, let alone proof that it did happen.  Atheists “live by faith” in their conviction that God does not exist and that they will not be ultimately accountable for their ideas and influence on others - they don’t “know” these things, but they hope their belief system accords with reality (otherwise, they are in trouble).

II. Spiritual vs. Material Beings in the Bible

     When God “breathed into” Adam’s body the “breath of life,” He animated a material body made out of common dirt/chemicals/minerals.  We were given life by our parents and we pass on life to our children, but we do not create life from nothing nor do we have power over the day of death in our own being.  Animals have the same “breath of life” as do humans (physical, biological life).  Do animals have “breath/spirit” that returns to God or descends into the earth such as people have (Eccl. 3:21)?  Animals that kill humans are accountable and punished in the same way humans who commit homicide are (Genesis 9:5-6).  What is unique to humans is the “image” of God (Gen. 1:26-28), not the divine nature but a similarity/likeness of God that allows oversight of the creation.

     Spirits do not have real flesh/bodies (Luke 24:36-39), but demons desire to inhabit even animal bodies (Mark 5:9-13) rather than be punished (Matthew 8:29; Mark 1:24).  Angels often appeared in the form of men (Genesis 18:1-2,16,33; 19:1; Daniel 9:21; 10:5-6).

     Two dangers - (1) we error if we do not take spiritual beings seriously (as a part of reality) or (2) we error by taking them too seriously (to be obsessed with spiritual beings, seeing angels everywhere or demons under the bed and in the closet).  The Bible gives no indication that we are to expect or seek contact with angels and warns against those who worship angels (Col. 2:18).

Invisible

     The Bible tells us that God created the “invisible realm” as well as the physical (Col. 1:16) - everything in this universe is under God’s ultimate authority (Satan and God are NOT “equals” slugging it out” for control).  Basing much of our knowledge on physical senses, we must grapple with the idea of and reality of “invisible” things.  The Bible tells us that God is “Spirit” (John 4:23-24) and “invisible.”

Romans 1:20/ For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse.

Colossians 1:15-16/ And He is the image of the invisible God, the first-born of all creation.  For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities-- all things have been created by Him and for Him.

1Timothy 1:17/ Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.

     Are the “invisible” things God created - “thrones, dominions, rulers, authorities” - angelic powers in some systematic arrangement (Romans 8:38; Ephesians 6:12; Colossians 2:15)?

     Enlightenment Skepticism - The French Enlightenment (1689-1789) tried to persuade Western civilization to adopt materialistic and naturalistic philosophy as the basis of its thinking - “reality” is limited to material things and natural processes (in effect, “spiritual” things are unreal, imaginary, illusionary).  The position of the Philosophes was that God, Satan, angels, demons, spirits, etc. are all superstitious illusions for the ignorant masses, not real beings in a “super-natural” realm.  All religion was attributed to superstition, ignorance, corrupt priesthoods inventing ideas and bogus “sacred texts” by which to manipulate the ignorant masses.

     A favorite myth arising from this viewpoint is that most human warfare and suffering has been caused by religion.  It usually escapes the notice of these folks that the French Revolution brought on more chaos and death in French society for a decade than the Monarchy and Roman Catholicism had produced in any comparable decade.  Even worse are the movements that later developed out of the French Enlightenment - 20^th century materialistic/naturalistic state atheism (Marxist-Leninist Russian/Chinese Communism and German Naziism) probably killed more people in one century for purely idealogical reasons than can be attributed to primarily religious causes during the entire Church Age!  The Roman Catholic “Inquisition” sub-divides into three phases between 1215 and 1800 AD.  Doctrinal heresies were persecuted with deaths measured in 10’s of thousands; persecution of witchcraft may have led to deaths somewhere between 30,000 and 80,000; and the Spanish Inquisition probably led to deaths to be measured in thousands.  On the other hand, Naziism led to 20+ millions of deaths and Stalinist purges in Russia are usually measured in deaths counted in 10 of millions.

     Not all Reality is “visible” - Of course, it can be reasoned that there are some things which are “invisible” because they don’t really exist - such as unreal things that we imagine.  However, the reality” of invisible things is hard to ignore.  Science knows that certain things exist that are beyond the abilities of our physical senses to detect them - sounds that are too high (or too low) in frequency for human ears to hear, although dogs can hear some of them; radio waves; ultra-violet light; etc.  Most people believe in the reality of hydrogen, but it is a colorless, tasteless, odorless gas that none of us directly experience with our physical senses (unless it is ignited).  Some things are “invisible” to us because of location - equatorial peoples do not see or experience freezing temperatures and snow where they live, but such things do exist elsewhere.  Some things by their nature are not “physical,” yet very powerful - the emotions we call “hate/ love/ fear” cannot be measured by instruments, but motivate a good deal of human thought and action.  Things such as hope, despair, encouragement, integrity, etc. are not physical, but are very real as can be discerned from the results they bring.  What I am saying is that “reality” for us includes a number of things that are “invisible” yet are very real.  The “circle of reality” includes, but is not limited to, physical/material things.  Thus, all people live partially by “sight” (what we physically discern with our senses - touch, taste, smell, hear, and see) and partially by “faith” (assurance and conviction about things we have not seen/heard/touched/tasted/smelt).

     How to conceptualize “spiritual beings” - The lead character in the movie “the Invisible Man” was still physically tangible (could be heard, felt, etc.) but was no longer discernable by sight.  Spirits could be thought of as one step further removed from our senses - living personalities in a limited physical area that cannot be seen or felt, like talking to a person on a telephone.  With a telephone conversation, you are talking to a person that exists in a real location, with intelligence and personality, but you experience no discernable physical presence except for a voice coming out of a plastic handset.  People you talk with on the telephone are, in some ways, like spirits - personalities without sight/touch/smell perceivable bodies (from our local perspective).

     The “Spirit Realm” - It could be that spiritual beings generally inhabit another dimension that we have very limited access to - a few humans seem to be able to communicate with the spiritual world in a more tangible way than the rest of us (like the witch of Endor - 1Samuel 28:11-14).  The Bible in no ways denies the reality of the spirit world, but it forbids occultic activity seeking contact with spiritual beings other than God (Deuteronomy 18:9-14).  Among the righteous, angelic visits were always initiated by God.  Angels are “ministering spirits” that render service for the redeemed (Hebrews 1:14), but our interaction with them is often (usually?) unknown to us (Hebrews 13:2).  Nowhere in Scripture are we encouraged to seek or focus our energies on trying to discern and contact angels.  Rather, like John, we are bluntly instructed NOT to worship angels (Colossians 2:18), but to focus on God the Creator and His Messiah (Revelation 19:10; 22:8-9).

     Humans occasionally have seen beyond the veil, but these are rare occurrences - Saul’s conversation with Samuel’s spirit (1Samuel 28:11-19), Elisha’s view of Elijah’s departure (2Kings 2:11-12), Elisha allowing his servant to see the angelic forces (2Kings 6:15-17), and heaven’s view of things (Revelation 4:1 - 22:6).  Daniel was told about the spiritual level of conflict going on between angels over-seeing nations (Daniel 10; 12:1) and this might be what Paul, Peter, and Jude were alluding to in their comments and phraseology concerning spiritual beings^[1] and the “spiritual warfare” that Christians are involved in (Daniel 10; Ephesians 6:10-12; Colossians 2:15; 2Corinthians 10:3-5), for which appropriate armor is available to the saints (Ephesians 6:13-18).  However, one thing comes through loud and clear - the Bible does NOT encourage Christians to seek contact with spiritual beings other than God, even good angels.

     God is Spirit (John 4:23-24), eternal and uncaused living intelligence and power.  God is not limited by time or space, as His presence and awareness permeates and goes beyond the physical universe.

But will God indeed dwell on the earth? Behold, heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain You, how much less this house which I have built! (1Kings 8:27)

     God’s Spirit works with people - so they speak God’s message (Numbers 11:25-29); gives humans talents and ability to do God’s will (Exodus 36:1-2); God’s Spiritual power “came upon” people to move them to do some task (Judges 3:10; 6:34; 11:29; 14:6) convicts people of sin/righteousness, judgment (John 16:7-11); gives life to our bodies (Romans 8:11); opposes fleshly desire within us and aids us in resisting sin if we follow His leading (Galatians 5:16-17); produces spiritual fruit in those who belong to Christ and seek to subdue the passions and desires of the flesh (Galatians 5:22-24); can give inner strength to Christians (Ephesians 3:16); works inside us to move us to accomplish God’s will (Philippians 2:12-13); indwells obedient believers (1John 4:13).

     However, people can rebel against God’s Spirit trying to move them in the right direction (Psalm 106:33; Zech. 7:12).  God’s Spirit can also be grieved (Isaiah 63:10; Ephesians 4:30), lied to (Acts 5:3), tested (Acts 5:9), resisted (Acts 7:51), quenched (1Thessalonians 5:19), insulted (Hebrews 10:29), and blasphemed (Matthew 12:31).

     On rare occasions, God has sent “evil spirits” to harass humans for certain purposes: to create hostility in the men of Shechem towards Abimelech because of his evil deeds (Judges 9:23); to create a dependence on David’s music to aid David’s movement into the court so as to take the throne (1Samuel 16:14-16,23; 18:10; 19:9); to deceive Ahab so that he would be punished for his evil deeds (1Kings 22:21-23).

     The Spirit at work in the sons of disobedience - fills human hearts to lie to the Holy Spirit and to men (Acts 5:3); he blinds minds so that they do not perceive Jesus to be Messiah/Lord (2Corinthians 4:3-4); works through misguided human teachers and leaders (2Corinthians 11:13-15); encourages people to indulge their fleshly lusts and desires, and to conform to the values and patterns of ungodly worldly culture (Ephesians 2:2-3); struggles against God’s people with “schemes” and “fiery darts” (Ephesians 6:11-12,16); initiates false doctrine and spreads it through hypocritical men without consciences (1Timothy 4:1-3); holds people captive to do his will (2Timothy 2:26).

     A Human’s spirit - feels anguish (Job 7:11); can be preserved by God (Job 10:12); can be broken (Job 17:1); can grow faint (Psalm 77:3) and ponder matters (Psalm 77:6); can be “overwhelmed” within us (Psalm 142:3; 143:4); can fail (Psalm 143:7); can be broken (Proverbs 18:14);  can seek God (Isaiah 26:9); can be troubled (Lamentations 2:11), can feel anxiety (Daniel 2:3); can be distressed (Daniel 7:15); rejoices (Luke 1:47), a source of spiritual service to God (Romans 1:9); can pray apart from our mind (1Corinthians 14:14; cf. Romans 8:26); can be refreshed (1Corinthians 16:18), can be in need of rest (2Corinthians 2:13).

     From all of this, we can begin to conceive of the human spirit as the non-physical element in human nature that is conscious and living (not the biological body processes).  The “soul” (psyche) is probably to be identified with the “spirit” (pneuma), rather than distinguished as something separate so that man is thought of in terms of three elements (body, soul, spirit).^[2]  Humans are a combination of physical body and spirit.  The physical body dies and the spirit separates from the body, but humans were not designed to be disembodied spirits and our spirit will be united with a glorified body someday (1Corinthians 15).

     On the other hand, “spiritual beings” are conscious and living beings that were not created to be housed in physical bodies.  God is eternal, uncreated “Spirit” and He has various names.  A portion of God’s essence, the Word, was “incarnated” for 33 years in “Jesus.”  Angels are individual creatures, some of which have names.^[3]  Demons also are recognizable and countable beings (Mark 5:9; Luke 8:30) and by “possessing” some human bodies and desiring to be sent “into” a herd of pigs, they show some desire to be in physical bodies.

     So, this is a brief introduction to some of the things we will be considering in this study.

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Charles E. McCoy

01/17/2007