The making alive of our mortal body by the Holy Spirit is an important part of our redemption. Our body is the temple of the Holy Spirit of God. The body we have now is as seed that is to be sown.

If we are faithful to God, by faith pursuing and enduring the transformation from the earthy to the heavenly, our body will be raised from the dead and clothed with a body from Heaven of great glory. This has not happened as yet, and our body remains as an adversary that continually must be kept under control. Our body is animal in nature and it seeks always to satisfy its appetites whether or not our whole personality is brought down into Hell as a result.

So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption: It is sown in dishonour; it is raised in glory: it is sown in weakness; it is raised in power: It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body. (I Corinthians 15:42-44)

The Christian discipleship is a long struggle against the lusts of the sinful body.

However, it is in the soul that the issue of the resurrection, of the Kingdom of God, is decided.

Our soul is our "heart," so to speak. Our soul is our will our will to exist, our will to achieve, our will to have pleasure. The source of our judgment and decisions is in our soul. Our spirit reflects our soul just as the Father's Spirit reflects His Soul and communicates His will. This remains true except when our spirit, being in union with the Spirit of God, guides the judgments of our soul.

The first Adam is a living soul. The second Adam is a life-giving spirit. The transformation from soul to life-giving spirit, from corruption to incorruption, from the kingdom of man to the Kingdom of God, from death to resurrection, is prolonged and painful. It is death to the soul, to what we are, to our first personality. He who seeks to save his life, his soul, shall lose it, because the race of living souls is doomed to extinction.

When we receive Jesus He plants in us a Piece of Himself. This Piece of Christ is a living seed.

This is what it means to be "born again." We cannot see or enter the Kingdom of God until we have been born again because it is the Kingdom, eternal life, the resurrection, the new creation, that is born in us when we are born again.

Now there are two distinct personalities in us, two distinct races, two distinct kinds of creatures. Adam and Christ are both alive in us.

What can we expect now that two personalities are in our body? We can expect conflict and this is what occurs.

The soul has a world, an environment, in which it survives and finds growth, pleasure and achievement. The fleshly body and its senses, the physical world, human society, the arts and sciences, communication, are all dear to the human soul. The soul lives in these elements.

To be continued.