Three kinds of life

While we were still sinners, Christ died for us (Romans 5:8).

When God created the universe, He filled it with three types of life.  He created living beings with no spirit inside them.  He created spirits that have no physical bodies.  And He created beings that are composed of bodies and souls that are entwined as one.

The lowest form of life consists of bodies that have no spirit, no soul.  They eat, drink and grow, they reproduce and eventually die.  Some have rudimentary intelligence—they might communicate some information to each other, or bond with a mate for life.  Some can be trained for work.  But they don’t have souls; they don’t lose sleep over matters of right and wrong, and nothing of them lingers on after death.  These lowest forms of life are plants and insects, birds and fish and animals. 

A higher form of life are the spirits with no bodies.  For the most part they are invisible, although they have the power to show themselves when they wish to.  These spirits are immortal—although made by God long ago, they are immune to the prospect of death.  Some of these spirits are beneficial—they work for God as His agents and messengers.  Others have rejected God’s authority and dedicate every moment to causing pain and destroying relationships.  The good spirits are angels; the evil spirits are demons.

The highest form of life combines spirit and body as one.  At the moment of conception, each embryo receives the gift of a soul from the God of life.  According to the Lord’s plan, these beings were intended to live forever; this design was corrupted when Satan convinced the first couple to ignore God’s authority so they could do what they wanted.  This rebellion is sin, and it condemned humanity to the curse of death—the painful separation of body from soul that never should have happened.

To address the problem of sin that results in death, the Son of God became like us—body and soul united as one.  But the spirit in Jesus’ body was not like us—He was perfect, sinless, completely obedient to God.  Through His death, Christ paid in full the penalty for our sins; when Jesus rose from the grave alive, His resurrection guaranteed a future where we will live again, body and soul united forever. Jesus did not give His life for plants or animals, angels or demons—He gave His life for us, the most precious beings in all creation.