The following is an excerpt from Seeking the Triune Image of God in You by Jeffrey Hill. It’s a featured Speakeasy selection, and there are still limited review copies available for qualified reviewers.
I’m a Soul, Man!
The Image of the Father in Us
The soul is the part of us that yearns for God. It’s what causes us to seek something bigger than ourselves. It’s the part of our created nature that makes us want to worship something.
Could that be because our own soul is in the image of an even greater one? The soul is in the image of the Father.
While we generally have little problem thinking about God having a mind and a spirit, in the Bible, God refers to the existence of his own soul! Isaiah 1:14 (ESV) is God’s soulful rebuke.
Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hates;
they have become a burden to me;
I am weary of bearing them.
Our mind may be weak or strong. Our human spirit may be crushed, atrophied, or glowing. But our soul is not subject to such ups and downs. It’s a solid anchor to the Father at the core of our identity; it does not vacillate moment to moment.
Our soul is the leader of the pack of our triune immortal being (soul, spirit, and mind). All the other aspects of our being are secondary to the condition of our souls, yet nothing operates separate from the other. How we think (mind) and how we experience relationships and passions (spirit) all connect to form the convictions of our souls.
The Bible sometimes references the Son and the Holy Spirit in submission to the will of the Father, such as in John 6:38.
For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me.
In that image, how are our minds and spirits in submission to our souls? It is my soul which defines who I am and who I belong to. It is at the very core of my identity. The thoughts of my mind and the flow of my spirit radiate from that center of identity, even as the Son and Holy Spirit flow from the Father.
Physics and Philosophy
I have an interest in energy healing techniques, and often they are braided up with Eastern philosophies I have to hold up to the light of biblical truth. I must admit that this area of study attracts people who have a wide variety of spiritual thoughts. Christians, atheists, agnostics, New Age, old age—you name it. Everybody has their own concept about the nature of God and their quest to connect to that “higher power” or to unite with “the energy of the universe.” It’s not that they have everything wrong, but there are some pretty significant beliefs that deviate from Scripture. At its core, these philosophies assert that you can connect with the God of the universe and satisfy your spiritual need without ever dealing with sin and the need for a savior. I consider this to be a continuation of the lie Satan told Eve in the Garden of Eden, in Genesis 3:4-5.
“You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman. “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
There is a movement of late toward changing some of the lingo associated with this study. The move is to encourage the term energy center instead of chakra, biofield instead of aura, and primo-vascular system instead of meridians. Unfortunately, these terms often carry baggage related to the philosophies associated with them.
The shift in terminology encourages a focus on the physics of what’s going on without the distraction of controversial philosophies. From a physics standpoint, we are very electrical in nature. Under each energy center there is a bundle of nerves (like an electrical junction box) that gives off a more concentrated electrical field. Like anything with electrical current, we give off an electrical field that surrounds our bodies.
We should not fear the existence of these energy systems in our body. If they are there, and evidence points heavily that they are, then God created them, and they are good, by his own declaration.
The Bible does not describe such energy fields, but the Bible does not describe a lot of systems in our body. That’s not the purpose of the text. Consider the complexities of the human eye or the mysteries of the brain that we still don’t understand. The Bible leaves these mysteries a mystery, yet all these complex and dynamic systems were functioning in Adam and Eve!
Joining the Conversation
As Christians, we are comfortable having Spiritual discussions, but we mostly limit it to soul-full discussions about how we connect to God Spiritually. I refer to these references as Spiritual with a capital S. In many traditional religious settings, when we think about having spiritual discussions, we immediately think of topics like salvation and our personal relationship with God and not so much about how our own individual spirit functions in our day-to-day life. But Christians, of all people, should know that God created each of us with a body and a human spirit (which I refer to with a lower case s). Having discussions about our spirits? Wait a minute now, that’s getting too New Age for me.
Christians should be leading the conversation about our soul, mind, and spirit. Instead, as Western philosophy and thought enveloped Christianity, we’ve allowed the New Age movement to hijack the conversation. After allowing our voice to be silenced for so long, why are we taken aback by the lack of biblical truth on the subject? When will individual Christians, and the church at large, realize that this is a part of the creation of God in and around us? When will we decide to lead the conversation?
Praise for Seeking the Triune Image of God in You
“Fascinating read! The mystery of the Trinity is discussed in a refreshing, new light. The author combines scientific knowledge and biblical insight as he discusses culturally relevant topics such as eastern vs western medical practices, energy healing, and spiritual awareness. The reader is provided with practical applications to deepen their relationship with God and develop a lifestyle of discipleship. Discussion questions at the end of each chapter provide the reader(s) an opportunity to further investigate the subject matter as it relates to their own personal life and relationships. Great addition to my bookshelf!”
—Amazon Reviewer
About the Author
Jeff Hill is a lifelong Christ-follower and has served in many leadership roles in the local church. Professionally, he has been a registered pharmacist for over forty years, and recently he has acquired a keen interest in energy healing techniques (ie. Healing Touch and energy psychology) and how Biblical theology must be the filter for the resulting philosophies of healing. He is married to his childhood sweetheart, Martha, and has two daughters, a son-in-law, and one grandchild.
Hooray, Jeff!