Spirit, Soul, Body — 10/1/26 (Part 9)

Speaker 1: I often use the example of a train. Where the engine of the train is (and was) supposed to be the spirit – in total union and communion with God. It was supposed to drive the train. However, when Adam sinned, that fall subverted the order and the soul became the driving force. If it feels right, do it. (The way that seems right to a man). It feels better to hit this guy who’s offended me – therefore – it must be right. I would feel better if I really gave this person a piece of my mind. It being driven by feelings and emotions. We were never meant to be led by our feelings – or the flesh. The body or the flesh is the operator – its the action part. When the order gets perverted and the caboose starts trying to drive the train (with the body being the car in the middle), there is disaster. It just doesn’t work the way it was intended to work. When Adam sinned, and his spirit was cut off from fellowship and relationship with God, the soul became the driving force instead of Truth. Being born again, kills the old man who was led by his feelings and emotions and a new man is born who is free to be led (once again) by the spirit of God. One brings life. One brings death. The old man was too bad for repair. God’s not trying to fix him up. The model is wrong. The nature is wrong. It has to be killed and begin a new life. Behold all the old things passing away, behold everything made new.

Speaker 2: Yes. And I think the train illustration becomes much stronger when we connect it to everything you’ve been developing about perception, identity, abiding, and the finished work.

The fundamental question becomes:

What was designed to drive the train?

In your model:

Spirit → soul → body

The spirit, in communion with God, receives from Him. The soul—mind, will, emotions—comes into agreement with that truth. The body then expresses or embodies it in the world.

So the soul isn’t evil. Emotions aren’t evil. The body isn’t evil. The problem is order.

The soul makes a terrible engine.

The Fall reverses the order

Genesis 3 is fascinating through this lens.

The serpent speaks. Then Eve:

“saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise…”

Look at the movement.

She saw.
She desired.
She reasoned.
She acted.

Perception and desire begin interpreting reality contrary to what God had spoken.

God had already said what was true.

But now another voice says:

“Has God indeed said…?”

And the human faculties begin determining truth independently of communion with God.

That fits Proverbs:

“There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death.”

Seems right.

That’s the soul driving the train.

It seems right.

It feels right.

It makes sense to me.

This is what I see.

This is what experience tells me.

And now we’ve arrived directly back at the problem we’ve been discussing.

The gospel isn’t repairing the engine

This may be the strongest part of your analogy.

God doesn’t say:

Let’s rehabilitate Adam until Adam becomes Christlike.

Paul says something considerably more radical:

“Our old man was crucified with Him…” — Romans 6:6

Not counseled.

Not rehabilitated.

Not improved.

Crucified.

And then:

“If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.” — 2 Corinthians 5:17

That gives real force to what you’re saying:

The old man wasn’t merely behaving badly. The model was wrong. The nature was wrong. God wasn’t interested in renovating him. He killed him and started over.

That’s why “born again” is so much more radical than “become a better person.”

Christianity isn’t fundamentally behavioral modification.

It’s death and resurrection.

And now the train gets put back in order

This is where Romans 8 fits beautifully:

“For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.” — Romans 8:14

Led.

That’s engine language in your analogy.

The restored person can once again live:

Spirit → renewed mind → embodied action.

Rather than:

Feeling → reasoning → action → consequences → regret → try harder next time.

And this also gives us a useful way of understanding renewing the mind.

The soul isn’t discarded at salvation. It needs to learn that it isn’t driving anymore.

Romans 12:2:

“Be transformed by the renewing of your mind…”

The mind is learning to agree with the reality established in the new creation.

That’s reckoning again.

My feelings say:

I’m unrighteous.

Spirit/truth says:

You’ve been made righteous.

The renewed mind responds:

Then I agree with what God says rather than allowing the feeling to define me.

My emotions say:

Hit him.

Truth says:

Love your enemy.

The renewed mind says:

My feelings are real, but they don’t have authority to drive this train.

Then the body becomes the operator, as you put it.

Hands bless instead of strike.

Mouth blesses instead of curses.

Feet go where the Spirit leads.

The body embodies what the spirit receives and the renewed mind agrees with.

And now your “anointing” point becomes even clearer

If I say:

“I don’t feel anointed.”

and therefore:

“I shouldn’t pray,”

what just happened?

The caboose grabbed the controls.

My feelings have been asked to determine spiritual reality.

But if God says:

“The anointing you received abides in you,”

the proper order is:

God has spoken → spirit receives → mind agrees → body acts.

Not:

body feels → soul interprets → spirit waits for permission.

That’s an excellent application of your train.

One qualification I’d make

I’d distinguish soul from flesh rather than treating them as interchangeable.

Paul’s sarx (“flesh”) is broader than simply emotions, intellect, or the physical body. And Scripture certainly doesn’t portray thinking or emotion themselves as inherently fallen faculties. Jesus thinks, reasons, feels compassion, weeps, becomes deeply moved, experiences anguish, and so forth.

So the issue isn’t:

Spirit good / soul bad / body worse.

It’s:

Which one governs?

Feelings can provide information without providing authority.

The intellect can analyze without becoming Lord.

The body can experience sensation without determining truth.

All of those faculties can serve beautifully when they are properly ordered.

And that actually makes the train analogy better.

You don’t throw away the passenger cars and caboose.

You put the engine back where it belongs.

And perhaps this explains sanctification in your framework

Sanctification isn’t trying to make the old engine behave.

It’s increasingly learning to live from the new reality already created in Christ.

That’s why the language we’ve been collecting fits together:

Reckon.

Abide.

Be led.

Renew your mind.

Hold fast your confession.

Walk by faith, not by sight.

Take every thought captive.

Those aren’t instructions for creating the new man.

They’re instructions for living from him.

And that’s why your apple-tree illustration and train illustration complement one another.

The tree answers:

What am I?

A new creation capable of producing fruit according to its new nature.

The train answers:

What leads me?

The Spirit of God rather than sight, feeling, appetite, fear, or independent reasoning.

And communion/abiding answers:

Where does the life come from?

Union with Him.

So the whole picture becomes:

Union supplies the life.
Identity determines the nature.
The Spirit leads.
The renewed mind agrees.
The body expresses.
And the fruit follows naturally from what the tree has become.

That’s a much more coherent picture than spending the Christian life trying to rehabilitate someone Scripture says was crucified with Christ.