A Spiritual Person (Romans 12:1)
What is a spirit? There are many occasions when the reply is, “A spirit cannot be seen with the eyes”. But this explanation is about the attributes of a spirit, not its definition. Additionally, spirits are not always invisible to the eyes. The Son of Man is the Word who became flesh, and He is not invisible to people. The things He did and said are spirit, but people saw and heard them. People say that the kingdom of heaven is ‘the place where spirits goes’ and they imagine it to be a transparent world where ghosts float about, but the kingdom of heaven is where our eternal bodies will go, and it is filled with things that these bodies will enjoy forever. In this way, being invisible is not an essential attribute of spirit.
1. Spiritual life
However, because of the stereotype that spirits cannot be seen with the eyes, many people misunderstand invisible concepts and abstract things to be spiritual. They claim to live ‘spiritual lives’, but they ignore matters that are in front of them and disregard the responsibilities they must handle in the body.
2. Permanent beings
Semuon gives this definition, ‘a spirit is a permanent being’. The key point is ‘permanent’. ‘Spiritual life’ refers to a life seeking permanent blessings, not a life which seeks after invisible ideas. Furthermore, a spirit is ‘a being’. ‘Spiritual life’ is about specific interaction between spiritual beings, not abstract concepts.
3. Connectivity
The core attribute of spirit is ‘connectivity’. Heaven (which is the spiritual world) is not separate from God (who is spirit). Though the Son was begotten from God’s bosom, He is not separate from God. The blessings that God gives are connected to God. God gave us the Holy Spirit. He is not distributed to each person, but He connects each person with God. ‘A spiritual person’ is not someone who has many possessions. He is a person who is connected with God. When this person receives things from God, he always meets eye-to-eye with Him (since God is connected to them).
August 15, 2021
Overseer Sung-Hyun Kim