The House of the Soul

God’s design for man did not change after the Fall. Our redemption in Christ brings about a holy remodel of our house to be fit for the Master’s use.

Apr 10, 2024

Unless the LORD builds the house, They labor in vain who build it. Psalm 127:1

God’s design for man did not change after the Fall. Our redemption in Christ brings about a holy remodel of our house to be fit for the Master’s use. This article explores the five rooms of the soul, how the Fall affects our proper function, and how God restores us through the redemption of Christ and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.

By wisdom a house is built, and by understanding it is established; (4) and by knowledge the rooms are filled with all precious and pleasant riches. (5) A wise man is strong, and a man of knowledge increases power. (6) For by wise guidance you will wage war, and in abundance of counselors there is victory.
— Proverbs 24:3-6

If Christians are to grow and mature in the knowledge and admonition of the Lord, it is imperative that they understand what scripture says concerning building the house of the soul, and be able to apply these principles to their lives.

The house of the soul has five rooms or components:

The Will
The Mind
The Conscience
The Emotions
The Awareness of Self

To understand each completely, we must understand God's purpose for each part of the soul, or the role each was to play in the overall plan of God.

Part One: Before the Fall

Will

The "will", or the ability to choose, is the first divine establishment of God for man. This study would be meaningless unless man had the divinely bestowed capability to choose for himself, which means he has the freedom to choose for or to reject the God who created him. In Genesis 1:26-27, we are told that God made man, both male and female, in His own image and gave them dominion over the earth. Consistent with God's nature and in order to exercise authority, man was given volition. God's purpose was for man to choose for order and righteousness, and therefore to choose to be submitted to Him and His authority.

Mind

The "mind" is that part of man with which God intended man to receive, understand, and meditate upon His word. Thus, the purpose of the mind was to take in spiritual nourishment and catalog spiritual truth.

Conscience

The "conscience" was intended to be the storehouse of man's knowledge of the principles of righteousness. It was to be the judge of man's thoughts, words, and deeds in respect to his conformance to righteousness. A conscience properly ordered by truth will thus convict man of sin, any area where man is missing the mark or falling short of absolute obedience to God.

Emotions

The "emotions" were given to allow man to experience joy and the fullness of the blessings of God. When kept in control by the mind and the conscience, the emotions amplify the way in which man experiences creation and his relationship to His Creator. There is no way to understand from the point-of-view of fallen man the immeasurable joy that was available to Adam in soul harmony and fellowship with God.

Awareness to Self

“Awareness of Self" was originally given man to allow him to see himself accurately in respect to God and the rest of creation. It was to allow man to identify himself with God as both his creator and a loving Father. It was also to make it possible for man to recognize the likeness of God in himself, while remaining in reverence and awe at the glory and majesty of El-Elyon, the Most High God. It was to impart the perspective to man to understand that it is in fellowship, and in voluntary obedience and submission to God that man is accorded all the privileges of a loving, sovereign God.

For Adam to fulfill his purpose and to enjoy all the privileges that God had intended for him, it was only necessary for him to walk in right relationship with God, which entails being obedient and maintaining a reverential and loving attitude towards God. Just as God would later convey to His chosen people the Hebrews.

“Obey My voice, and I will be your God, and you will be My people; and you will walk in all the way which I command you, that it may be well with you.”
— Jeremiah 7:23b

And of course, we are commanded to love God with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength. Man will never be great or powerful in or of himself, but through the favor and grace of God, man can become and experience all that is possible for him as a created being. So although man will never be God and that which is finite can never become infinite, he can enjoy the fullness and privilege that comes from being the object of God’s unconditional and limitless love and favor. If we want to know the purpose of a thing, we do not ask the thing, we ask the Creator of the thing.

Part Two: After the Fall

But then came the fall, and the curse, and man was cast out of the garden and into a different relationship with his Creator. Man was separated from God by his disobedience and his insistence upon his rights to himself. With the fall, sin entered the human race, and with it both physical and spiritual death. Spiritual death is being separated from God for eternity.

However, God's plan for the redemption of the human race was already complete in his mind before the foundation of the earth. A body was prepared, and Christ entered the world at the appointed time. He became our ransom from the slave market of sin, and our mediator with the Father.

Though Fallen, Our Function Remains Unchanged

The function and purpose of the soul remains unchanged; however, now man must deal with an accursed world, an ever present and wicked adversary (Satan and the fallen angels), a sin nature, and his fellow man.

Keep in mind that born-again believers can work on our behalf and are commanded to do so, but also that the powers and principalities of darkness can use (work through) unbelievers to come against us, and can even deceive believers into acting as our enemies and even enemies of God.

Through all of this, God's purpose for the operation of his creation is unchanged, despite the interruption caused by sin. It is still God's will to transform the soul of man into the image of His glory, Jesus Christ; and to bring redeemed and regenerate man into complete union and communion with the Godhead.

Living Bread - the Word

God has supernaturally provided “living bread” to us through His word and His Spirit that our soul might prosper and grow. We are to feed upon the word, and we are to metabolize it by meditating on it, speaking it, sharing it, praying it, and acting upon it in faith. As Jesus said to the disciples,

"Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in yourselves."
— John 6:53

What Christ is saying is that unless we are baptized into Him, and then appropriate His life continuously as a lifestyle through working out our salvation with fear and trembling, then we will be like the Pharisees, just dead men's bones. The manna in the wilderness that was gathered and not eaten the same day bore worms and became corrupted.

Word Received then Rejected

Likewise, the word that is received and then rejected by not being acted upon, becomes sin to us, which will harden our hearts and separate us from the Spirit’s transforming power. We eat Christ’s flesh by reading and acting upon His word. But unless we “drink His blood” by continuously partaking of our kingdom provision in 1 John 1:9 to stay in fellowship through confession, then we will not be available to the process. Christ is after all the very "bread of life,” and it is from Him that we must draw our spiritual sustenance.

Self-Destructive Road

All the parts of the soul still function as at the beginning. Today we can still choose to reject the word of God, and instead pour the toxic waste of the world into our soul. This sends us down a self-destructive road:

This defiles the mind and the conscience (Titus 1:15).
In turn the mind and the conscience fail to control the emotions as designed.
Then the mind and the conscience begin to be ruled by our emotions and our lusts.
So the soul becomes like an out-of-control car with no brakes and the throttle stuck open.
So instead of being ruled by the mind of Christ in our decisions, we become ruled by our flesh
And life becomes a carnal roller coaster ride propelled by the gravity of sin.
This condition causes our self-awareness to become disfigured and dysfunctional.
Then instead of being God-centered and submitted to him in reverence, we become self-centered, rebellious, irreverent, and idolatrous.

We therefore abnormally use, and therefore abuse our soul, which God has created to glorify Him, and in our iniquity we become bent on glorifying ourselves. "Defilement" of the soul is a process of abuse whereby we operate the soul in a manner in which it was not designed until we compromise its ability to perform as originally intended.

It is sort of like running a lawn mower over rocks until the blade is so distorted that it will no longer cut grass. Abuse of the soul ultimately erodes the capacity of the soul to function as it was originally purposed.

Man was designed to run on the word of God, just like a car was designed to run on gasoline. However, a man that is filling his tank with the toxic waste of the world system will no more function as designed than a car running on kerosene. Instead of being a sweet smelling aroma to God, we will be producing the darkness of sin, which like a smoking car will reduce the visibility of the light that is available to us, and we will emit an odor that is offensive to God.

Eventually we will cease to function RIGHTLY altogether as our heart becomes scarred and calloused and becomes insensitive to the Spirit. Just like a spark plug that is fouled by carbon and can no longer spark to ignite fuel, our heart will cease to be able to be ignited by the fire of the Holy Spirit unto repentance and cleansing.

Guarding the Eye, Ear, & Mind Gates

What we must understand as believers is that what we take in through the eye, ear, and mind gates of our body, the temple of the Holy Spirit, becomes the building materials of the house of our soul.

What we put into our soul will make us in its image.

If we pour in the world, then we will be conformed to the world.
If we pour in Jesus Christ, then we will be progressively conformed and transformed through the Spirit (supernaturally) into His image.

Thus, even if we are building on the firm foundation of salvation, corrupt materials will compromise the structure, no matter how little or how infrequently they are used. just like a building in the physical realm, once it gets out of square or faulty material is used, you can't just patch the outside.

To correct the problem, all the corrupt structure must be torn down and cast away, then the house must be restored using quality materials that are applied by the hand of a master builder. In the case of man, this builder must be the original Manufacturer, Christ our Lord.

Holy Remodel

Confession (1 John 1:9), the act of allowing God to remove the corruption of sin, should be applied in a timely fashion before corruption is built upon corruption, and the whole house is compromised and in ruins. Jesus Christ is the carpenter of our resurrected soul. If you will allow Him to create His life in you, He will change and remodel you from the inside out. He will restore your house starting with the foundation, reinforcing every joint, and straightening every support.

Part 3: How the Spirit Works Within Us

Christ through His Spirit in us will transform each of us into His own likeness, if we will just remain in fellowship and available to the work. The following Scriptures outline how the Spirit works within us:

Now to Him who is able to do exceeding abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us,
— Ephesians 3:20

And for this reason we also constantly thank God that when you received from us the word of God's message, you accepted it not as the word of men, but for what it really is, the word of God, which also performs its work in you who believe.
— 1 Thessalonians 2:13

For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.
— Philippians 1:6

For it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure.
— Philippians 2:13

But we all, ….., are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit.
— 2 Corinthians 3:18

Then as God's Spirit in us restores us to our original purpose and design, we become a suitable building block for the corporate body of Christ. God can then place us into our proper position in the larger design of Christ's Church, and into our assigned position in the Royal Army and Priesthood of believers:

In whom the whole building, being fitted together is growing into a holy temple in the Lord; (22) in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling of God in the Spirit.
— Ephesians 2:21-22

From whom the whole body, being fitted and held together by that which every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love.
— Ephesians 4:16

"He who is not with Me is against Me; and he who does not gather with Me scatters."
— Matthew 12:30

The principle Christ gave in this last verse is so simple, yet so grossly misunderstood in these times when evil is so prevalent that even much of what is considered normal and acceptable behavior by believers, is a violation of the word and an abomination to God. We are truly a hardheaded and rebellious people, worse perhaps even then those addressed in Isaiah 65 2-6:

"I have spread out My hands all day long to a rebellious people, Who walk in the way which is not good, following their own thoughts, (3a) A people who continually provoke Me to My face, ... (5) "Who say, 'Keep to yourself, do not come near me, For I am holier than you!' These are smoke in My nostrils, A fire that burns all the day. (6) "Behold, it is written before Me, I will not keep silent, but I will repay; I will even repay into their bosom."
— Isaiah 65:2-6

Believers are in a battle until death against an enemy who is totally superior to them in the flesh (out of fellowship with God), and who can only be overcome by the operative power of the Spirit in us:

But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh. (17) For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please.
— Galatians 5:16-17

For those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. (6) For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace, (7) because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so, (8) and those who are in the flesh cannot please God.
— Romans 8:5-8

In the Spirit, wrapped in the inputted righteousness of Christ, and in fellowship with God (having no unconfessed sin in our heart), Satan must flee from us (James 4:7-8). However, to consistently overcome such an enemy, we must never give him an opportunity (Ephesians 4:27). Therefore, we must maintain a consistent lifestyle of being in fellowship, which requires a lifestyle of confession (1 John 1:5-9).

We must remain on the alert, always vigilant and ever prepared. We cannot fight a defensive battle, because our enemy never ceases from his attack. On the contrary, the only winning strategy available to us is to constantly press the advance, by being constantly available and submitted to the life of Christ in us.

This means that if we are to prevail and avoid being a spiritual casualty in the angelic warfare, we must walk in the light as He is in the light. We must be wholly conformed to obedience, to prayer, to evangelism, and to building-up the body of Christ.

We must be anointed and empowered daily by His Spirit in us, never relying on our own strength, but rather always relying on and waiting upon God. Our waiting must be one of faith rest. Faith rest is never inactivity, but rather continuous preparation and continuous practice, a lifestyle of perpetually stirring up and refining our spiritual giftings and insight.

Not that we are adequate in ourselves to consider anything as coming from ourselves, but our adequacy is from God, (6) who also made us adequate as servants of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.
— 2 Corinthians 3:5-6

Therefore, the life of Christ is one that in no way compromises with the world. Not that we aren't in the world, but rather that we aren't of the world (John 17:16). We are to live up to the standard of Christ, and to reject the standard of the world. The Christian walk is not a religion of "don'ts"; it’s a dynamic life of activity that chooses only those alternatives that glorify Christ and magnify His life in us.

The life that is sold out to Jesus freely chooses to lay aside every encumbrance, and the sin, which so easily entangles it, and to run with endurance in order to win the prize (Hebrews 12:1). It chooses to strip itself of every worldly encumbrance so that it can run the best race it can possibly run, even in the face of constant ridicule and rejection from a lost and dying world that can't help being offended by it.

Therefore if you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. (2) Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth. (3) For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. (4) When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory. (5) Therefore consider the members of your earthly body as dead to immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed, which amounts to idolatry. (6) For it is because of these things that the wrath of God will come upon the sons of disobedience, (7) and in them you also once walked, when you were living in them. (8) But now you also, put them all aside: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and abusive speech from your mouth. (9) Do not lie to one another, since you laid aside the old self with its evil practices, (10) and have put on the new self who is being renewed to a true knowledge according to the image of the One who created him— (11) a renewal in which there is no distinction between Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave and freeman, but Christ is all, and in all.
— Colossians 3:1-11

This life does not concern itself with the norms and acknowledgment of man, but rather with the approval and favor of God - our Creator and Lord, Jesus Christ! Remember it was Christ who said, "And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me." So, if you want to achieve the hightest possible good for yourself in this life, then develop a strategy today to serve Him to your utmost for His highest!

I urge you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. (2) And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.
— Romans 12:1-2

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