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In this article, we will learn the following:

1. What are the three kinds of life?

2. What is death?

3. What is the difference between the infilling and the indwelling of God’s Spirit in us?

Believers often use the word “life” to describe physical life, spiritual life, and eternal life. However, these three are not the same.

We will now categorize and define the three kinds of life mentioned or implied in the Bible:

1. SPIRITUAL LIFE

Genesis 1:27“So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.”

Spiritual life is the life of our spirit. When Adam was created by God in Genesis 1:27, he was still a spirit, both male and female. He was given a body made from the earth only in Genesis 2:7.

Our spirits came from God. They did not come from our parents. You did not inherit your spirit from your parents because it came from God alone:

Hebrews 12:9: “Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live?”

We have a spiritual Parent, and we have physical parents. The only things we inherited from our physical parents are our physical attributes.

Angels also have spiritual life because they are spirit beings (Hebrews 1:14). Spiritual beings need to remain in the spiritual world, which, in this case, is Heaven, in order to survive. Heaven, the spiritual world, is the place to which all spiritual beings must remain connected in order to continue living. Everything spiritual beings need to survive is found in the spiritual world. It is like the air humans need to live or the water fish need to survive. Once fish are taken out of the water, they will die.

Spiritual beings, such as angels and humans, cannot die as long as they remain in the spiritual world. They can receive everything their spirits need from there. Their spirits will continue to live forever as long as they are not disconnected from the spiritual world.

Genesis 2:7: “And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.”

We received our physical life when God made us a physical body out of the dust of the earth. A physical body is necessary for a spirit to access the physical world. Just as the spirit must remain connected to the spiritual world, the physical body must remain in the physical world, which is the Earth. Everything necessary to sustain the life of the physical body is found on earth, the physical world.

When the spirit of man was placed into his flesh, two kinds of life began to govern him: spiritual life and physical life. Man must feed both kinds of life: the spiritual through the spiritual world, which is Heaven, and the physical through the physical world, which is the earth. Man must maintain both kinds of life so that they can grow and mature.

After the spiritual and physical lives were joined together, man became a living soul. Becoming a living soul means that man’s physical and spiritual attributes became alive and could be seen in him. The soul became his total personality. Both the physical and spiritual attributes of a man can be seen in his soul.

According to the Bible, man’s soul is made up of three components: the mind, the will, and the emotions. The mind is the part of the soul that pertains to intellect, knowledge, and man’s capacity and ability to think (Psalm 139:14; Lamentations 3:20). The will, on the other hand, is man’s capacity and ability to choose or refuse (Job 7:15). Lastly, emotion is man’s capacity and ability to express himself through feelings such as anger, love, joy, hatred, and fear (Song of Solomon 1:7; 2 Samuel 5:8; Psalm 86:4).

At first, only Adam’s spirit influenced and was reflected in his soul. He was not affected by any physical thing around him. However, when God gave Adam a body, his soul also began to reflect his physical nature. Whenever Adam’s body became hungry, his mind began to think about food, his will desired to eat, and his emotions were affected by the food he ate.

This is how his two natures influenced his soul. His mind, will, and emotions reflected not only his spirit but also his body. The sum total of Adam’s personality consisted of his spiritual and physical natures, both of which were manifested in his soul.

DEATH

Before defining eternal life, we must first define death.

Death is separation.

All forms of death are separations. For example, when a human being dies physically, the body becomes separated from the physical world. You can still see the person’s body in this world, but it can no longer hear, see, taste, smell, or feel anything from the physical world. It can no longer receive anything from this world.

Even if you shout at the dead body or strike it, it will not react because it is now completely separated from the physical world. Eventually, as time passes, it will deteriorate, completely disappear, and return to the ground of which it was originally part of (Genesis 2:7).

The same applies to our spirit. When our spirit is separated from the spiritual world, it can no longer interact with the spiritual world, just as a dead body can no longer interact with the physical world. Although our spirit continues to exist, it cannot hear, see, smell, taste, or feel anything from the spiritual world. It cannot receive anything from it.

If it does not receive eternal life, the dead spirit will go to Hell. In Hell, it will begin to deteriorate. Someday, Hell will be thrown into the Lake of Fire, along with all the dead spirits within it (Revelation 20:14). Just as the body returns to the ground from which it came, those spirits will be completely reduced in the Lake of Fire and will return to God, from whom it also came. We can read this in Ecclesiastes 12:7:

“Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it.”

(Note: This destiny applies only to spirits that do not have the Seed, or Truth, of God within them (Romans 9:8–13). It does not apply to those who have the Seed of God in their spirits. To learn more about the Seed of God, please read this article: THE SEED OF GOD

Sin is what separated or killed the spirit of man from the spiritual world, which is Heaven. When Adam and Eve partook of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, it became the instrument Satan used to separate the spirit of man from Heaven. Our spirit’s access to Heaven was cut off. From that day onward, the spirit of man died, and his flesh began to rule his entire being.

The third and most important kind of life is Eternal Life. It is called “Eternal” Life because it has no beginning and no ending. There is only one Entity who has neither beginning nor end: God Himself. That is why we can read in 1 John 5:11–12 that eternal life is found in God Himself:

“And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life.”

To be precise, Eternal Life is our Lord Jesus Christ. This is the true definition of eternal life. Those who possess Christ have eternal life, while those who do not possess Him do not have eternal life. Plain and simple.

Before the Fall, Adam needed to possess eternal life to secure life without end for his spirit. Because although Adam came from God and was a Seed of God, he did not possess eternal life. Like the angels, Adam’s spirit could die, or become separated. He first needed to possess the Spirit of God to obtain eternal life. At that time, the Spirit of God was represented by the Tree of Life (Genesis 2:9). The Tree of Life represented Eternal Life, which is the Spirit of God.

However, we know what happened. Adam did not choose Eternal Life; he chose sin, which caused his spirit to die. His spirit became separated from Heaven and could no longer receive anything from the spiritual world.

For our spirits to become alive aagin, we need to possess Christ, who is Eternal Life (John 3:16). Christ’s role is not only to reconnect us to Heaven. Simply reconnecting us to Heaven would not assure us that our spirits could never die again if we sinned. He wants to dwell within our spirits so that, regardless of the sins we may commit, our spirits can no longer die because God, who cannot die, already dwells within them.

For humanity to possess Christ, who is Eternal Life, we need to be indwelt by Him.

In the Old Testament, God could only fill Man with His Spirit because He had not yet redeemed him. God could not yet make His permanent residence within the human heart because Man had not yet been redeemed.

Being filled with the Spirit of God means that God can fill Man with His Spirit but cannot permanently dwell within him. The Spirit of God became man’s temple. Man took residence in God’s Spirit, rather than God taking residence in man.

However, the problem with this set up is that man is prone to wander and to leave God. Because sin dwells in his flesh, man often follows the leading of his flesh instead of remaining in the presence of God. We have seen this in the lives of many biblical characters, including Samson, David, King Saul, Solomon, and many others. The Spirit of God left these people when they ceased to remain in His presence. We can read about this in the following passage:

Psalm 51:10–11: “Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from thy presence; and take not thy holy spirit from me.”

So in infilling, God could take His Spirit away from man when he will commit sin. This is the problem with infilling. There is no security because God’s Spirit can leave us when we choose to sin.

Indwelling, on the other hand, is the complete opposite of infilling. To be indwelt by the Spirit of God means that God takes residence within man. Man becomes the temple of God (1 Cor. 3:16). Before God could do this, however, He first needed to purchase man so that He would have the right to make him His temple. This is why God could make us His temple only after the Lord Jesus Christ purchased us with His own blood:

Acts 20:28: “Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood.”

God can now live permanently within us because He already owns us. This is the beauty of indwelling. With infilling, we are prone to wander because we are the ones inhabiting God’s Spirit, and we are unfaithful beings. With indwelling, however, God is the One inhabiting us. Therefore, we have the security, knowing that He permanently dwells within us because He is faithful. He will neither leave nor forsake us, for He has promised, “I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee” (Hebrews 13:5).

Being indwelt by the Spirit of God is the same as being born-again (John 3:3). It is called “born-again” because your spirit, which was dead, is brought back to life when it is indwelt by the Spirit of Christ. It is as though your spirit has been born again.

What you need to do next is feed the growing Spirit within you so that He can completely take over your entire being. The food of that Spirit is the Spirit Himself, who is the Word of God (John 6:63). Therefore, you need to expose yourself to the Word of God, the Bible, to overcome the flesh completely.

Finally, we must learn to surrender ourselves completely to the Spirit of Christ dwelling within us. This is the very reason He dwells within you: to take over your life.

This world is full of people who have been “infilled” temporary with inspiration, only to walk away when the feeling fades. However, those who have been born again and have become the temple of the living God possess a security that the world cannot understand.

Surrender your life today. Do not merely ask God to help you; ask Him to inhabit you. For “He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life” (1 John 5:12).

God bless you, Bride of Christ.