It appears there are two forces in play in a human being\u2019s
nature (mankind in general), the affection and the
understanding. These are the primary forces that activate the
personality (self) and by way of definition, we can call them
what the scriptures call them; flesh and spirit. In each person
these forces have their sway to one degree or another. An
extreme of flesh, for instance, would evidence itself in an
individual who was very earthy, natural, attracted to
materiality, the things perceived by the senses, or soulish
( Greek - psuchikos). The spirit extremity would show itself as
ethereal, cognitive, abstract, and disentangled from its
opposite\u2019s goals and pursuits, thus spiritual (Greek -
pneumatikos). But either extreme is rather rare, with the vast
majority of mankind being an admixture of the two, providing
a full color spectrum of possible combinations. Therefore, we
see various types and personalities in mankind in the same
fashion as one star differs from another star in glory.
A good illustration of this is found in the Scriptural portrayal
of Jacob and Esau, not only brothers from the same womb but
twins who came into this world with the second holding onto
the heel of the first. Esau, firstborn to Isaac and Rebekah, is
described as a hairy man with a ruddy complexion, a crafty
hunter of the field. Of his brother Jacob it is said, he was a
peaceful man dwelling in tents. The story goes on to develop

the portrait of Jacob, how he lived up to his name, supplanter,
and used his wits to barter Esau\u2019s birthright away from him
and later deceived his own father into bestowing upon him
the family blessing due to the firstborn. Here we have a
typical dramatic conflict between the visceral and the
cerebral and later Scripture records God\u2019s commentary on it
saying it was Jacob whom he loved and Esau whom he hated.
(Romans 9:13)
Perhaps implied in this statement is a reference to the fact
that God\u2019s spirit (God is spirit), when it came upon a man in
the Old Testament, is portrayed as bestowing power which
produces knowledge, understanding and wisdom. He made
man, the first man of the earth, earthy and the evidence
points to the conclusion that He is training man\u2019s heart and
intellect to make wise choices, as evidenced for instance in
his longsuffering of Israel\u2019s transgressions or the trials of
Jacob or Joseph. The New Testament informs us there are two
Adams, the first being a type or shadow of the second or last
Adam who is the Lord Jesus Christ. \u201cThe second man is the
Lord from heaven. As is the earthy, such are they also that
are earthy: and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are
heavenly. And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we
shall also bear the image of the heavenly.\u201d (1Corinthians
15:47-49)
So, for a man to choose, a God given ability, and choose
wisely is the crux of the matter. And Christ came, full of grace
and truth in order that \u201cthe grace of God that brings salvation
appears to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness
and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and
godly, in this present world.\u201d (Titus 2:11-12)

But what is it that gives a man his identity, one who can
make choices, and makes him uniquely individual? Certainly
it\u2019s not simply a physical body which changes over time and
can be altered. Scripture informs us that we will survive this
carnal body and exist in a spiritual body at some point after

death. \u201cSo also the resurrection of the dead\u2026.It is sown a
natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural
(psuchikos) body, and there is a spiritual (pneumatikos)
body.\u201d (1Corinthians 15:42-44) Thus, it appears to be what
can be done in this natural (soulish) body that we currently
have rather than the actual body itself; as it is said, you will
know them by their fruit. (Matthew 7:20)
What is this \u2018I\u2019 that acts and produces fruit; this \u2018me\u2019 that can
be known?
To begin to know another, we must communicate or share
with each other; a joining. We do this principally with words,
which are essentially metaphors; symbolic representations of
our thoughts and the concepts that we hold in our minds.
Many thoughts and concepts we hold in common with
mankind but other thoughts and concepts are uniquely our
own. Thus, \u2018I\u2019 can be defined by what \u2018I\u2019 believe or you are
what you think. \u201cFor as he (man) thinks in his heart, so is he.\u201d
(Proverbs 23:7) Robert Bolton, a sixteenth century preacher,
author, classical scholar and philosopher said, \u201cBelief is not
merely an idea that the mind possesses, it is an idea that
possesses the mind.\u201d But what I think and believe can and
does change, so \u2018I\u2019 am not who \u2018I\u2019 used to be but just who I
am now, at this very moment. Therefore, if I judge another by
what I know him to have been, I judge falsely.
Change is inevitable. What we experience changes what we
believe; so we are, at any instant in time, the sum of our
experience. I cannot have all of another\u2019s experience, only
my own. I cannot fully know another, only of another. It is
only if and after we have shared experience, becoming
intimate over time, that I am able to begin to know another.
In that intimacy we are becoming like each other because to
some extent, we have shared thought or the same mind.

The Scripture teaches that man is a personality composed of spirit housed in a body of flesh. The soul, then, is the result of the body having been animated by the spirit of life (lives,