Spirit Body
Man has an eternal spirit body that is within him. The spirit body is clothed with a mortal body. The spirit body can go on existing or living without the mortal body, but the mortal body cannot thrive and live without the spirit body. Death is the separation of the spirit body from the mortal body.
In the book of Numbers Moses and Aaron abase themselves before the Lord and address him in this manner, "O God, the God of the spirits of all flesh" (Numbers 16:22). Similarly in another passage of the book of Numbers "Moses spake unto the Lord, saying, Let the Lord, the God of the spirits of all flesh, set a man over the congregation" (Numbers 27:15-16).
The prophet Elijah as recorded in the book of 1 Kings restores the life of a widow's son by imploring to the Lord that the child's spirit would return into the body of the boy. The record states, "And it came to pass after these things, that the son of the woman, the mistress of the house, fell sick; and his sickness was so sore, that there was no breath left in him." Elijah then cries unto the Lord, "O Lord my God, hast thou also brought evil upon the widow with whom I sojourn, by slaying her son? And he stretched himself upon the child three times, and cried unto the Lord, and said, O Lord my God, I pray thee, let this child's soul come into him again. And the Lord heard the voice of Elijah; and the soul of the child came into him again, and he revived. And Elijah took the child, and brought him down out of the chamber into the house, and delivered him unto his mother; and Elijah said, See, thy son liveth" (1 Kings 17:17-23).
In the book of Job Elihu reproves those older than him by declaring, "there is a spirit in man; and the inspiration of the Almighty giveth them understanding" (Job 32:8).
In Ecclesiastes it states, "Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was; and the spirit shall return unto god who gave it" (Ecclesiastes 12:7). We are reminded in the 11th chapter that, "As thou knowest not what is the way of the spirit, nor how the bones do grow in the womb of her that is with child; even so thou knowest not the works of God who maketh all" (Ecclesiastes 11:5).
In the Garden of Gethsemane Christ instructs his apostles to watch and pray. When their bodies give way to slumber, Christ then uses it as a teaching situation that distinguishes the difference between the spirit and the body of flesh teaching, "Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation; the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak" (Matt. 26:41 and Mark 14:38).
When the apostle Paul is being accused in front of Ananias, Ananias commands that Paul be smitten upon the mouth. In doing so a certain number of the assembly stood and said, "We find no evil in this man; but if a spirit or an angel hath spoken to him, let us not fight against God" (Acts 23:9).
Paul in an epistle to the Corinthians teaches, "Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price; therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's" (1 Cor. 6:19-20).
Paul reminds us of the dual parentage of the children of men. That each of us have fathers in this world, but that the God of heaven is the father of our spirits. "Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence; shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live" (Heb. 12:9)?
James also teaches the difference between faith and works is similar to the body and spirit. "For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also" (James 2:26).
The apostle Peter teaches us, "For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit. By which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison" (1 Peter 3:18-19). Peter continues, "For for this cause was the gospel preached also to them that are dead, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit" (1 Peter 4:6).
In the Book of Mormon the prophet Nephi is instructed by the Spirit of the Lord and Nephi testifies of the Holy Ghost's spirit body. The Spirit asks Nephi what it is that he desires and Nephi says, "to know the interpretation thereof - for I spake unto him as a man speaketh; for I beheld that he was in the form of a man; yet nevertheless, I know that it was the Spirit of the Lord; and he spake unto me as a man speaketh with another" (1 Nephi 11:11).
Nephi then teaches concerning the death and hell that some will pass through, that the spirit goes on living as the body is placed in the grave. "And because of the way of deliverance of our God, the Holy One of Israel, this death, of which I have spoken, which is the temporal, shall deliver up its dead; which death is the grave. And this death of which I have spoken, which is the spiritual death, shall deliver up its dead; which spiritual death is hell; wherefore, death and hell must deliver up their dead, and hell must deliver up its captive spirits, and the grave must deliver up its captive bodies, and the bodies and the spirits of men will be restored one to the other; and it is by the power of the resurrection of the holy One of Israel" (1 Nephi 9:11-12).
In the book of Mosiah King Benjamin is approaching death and tells the people, "I say unto you that I have caused that ye should assemble yourselves together that I might rid my garments of your blood, at this period of time when I am about to go down to my grave, that I might go down in peace, and my immortal spirit may join the choir above in singing the praises of a just God" (Mosiah 2:28).
Amulek teaches in the book of Alma concerning the eternal nature of our spirits. "Now, behold, I have spoken unto you concerning the death of the mortal body, and also concerning the resurrection of the mortal body. I say unto you that this mortal body is raised to an immortal body, that is from death, even from the first death unto life, that they can die no more; their spirits uniting with their bodies, never to be divided; thus the whole becoming spiritual and immortal that they can no more see corruption" (Alma 11:45).
Christ shows his spirit body to the brother of Jared. "Behold, this body, which ye now behold, is the body of my spirit; and man have I created after the body of my spirit; and even as I appear unto thee to be in the spirit will I appear unto my people in the flesh" (Ether 3:16).
Moroni's last words to us in the Book of Mormon testify of the resurrection and the reuniting of the spirit and body together. "And now I bid unto all, farewell. I soon go to rest in the paradise of God, until my spirit and body shall again reunite, and I am brought forth triumphant through the air, to meet you before the pleasing bar of the great Jehovah, the Eternal Judge of both quick and dead" (Moroni 10:34).
In a revelation given to the Church through the Prophet Joseph Smith in 1831, the Lord Jesus Christ speaks of the separation of the spirit from the body as a holding back, "For as ye have looked upon the long absence of your spirits from your bodies to be a bondage" (D&C 45:17). Similarly in the vision that the Prophet Joseph F. Smith had in 1918 concerning the realm of spirits prior to the redemption that was to be made by the God of Israel. "For the dead had looked upon the long absence of their spirits from their bodies as a bondage" (D&C 138:50).
Some of the spirits of the children of men after they depart the mortal life are kept back in bondage as a prison. "Behold, these are they who died without law; And also they who are the spirits of men kept in prison, whom the Son visited, and preached the gospel unto them, that they might be judged according to me in the flesh" (D&C 76:72-73).
The Lord also has revealed through the Prophet Joseph Smith in 1832 the relation of the spirit to all created things. "In describing heaven, the paradise of God, the happiness of man, and of beasts, and of creeping things, and of the fowls of the air; that which is spiritual being in the likeness of that which is temporal; and that which is temporal in the likeness of that which is spiritual; the spirit of man in the likeness of his person, as also the spirit of the beast, and every other creature which God has created" (D&C 77:2). In addition to this the Lord has revealed that, "The spirit and the body are the soul of man" (D&C 88:15).
Based upon the law that the spirit of man has adapted to their existence will determine which type of resurrection they will experience. For a spirit that has conformed their life to the celestial law of God will have a celestial resurrection in the day of their quickening. "They who are of a celestial spirit shall receive the same body which was a natural body; even ye shall receive your bodies, and your glory shall be that glory by which your bodies are quickened" (D&C 88:28). In addition, in the day of judgment, "the spirits of men who are to be judged, and are found under condemnation" shall come forth from their graves (D&C 88:100).
In section 93 of the Doctrine and Covenants of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints God reveals the eternal nature of man. "Man was also in the beginning with God. Intelligence, or the light of truth, was not created or made, neither indeed can be. All truth is independent in that sphere in which God has placed it, to act for itself, as all intelligence also; otherwise there is no existence" (D&C 93:29-30). The eternal verity to glean from this is, "For man is spirit. The elements are eternal, and spirit and element, inseparably connected, receive a fulness of joy; and when separated, man cannot receive a fulness of joy" (D&C 93:33-34). It is through the redemptive act of the God of Israel that man can become innocent before God once again. "Every spirit of man was innocent in the beginning; and God having redeemed man from the fall, men became again, in their infant state, innocent before God" (D&C 93:38).
The truth about the Godhead is found in D&C 130:22. This revelation from God contrasts the difference between the physical condition of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost. "The Father has a body of flesh and bones as tangible as man's; the Son also; but the Holy Ghost has not a body of flesh and bones, but is a personage of Spirit. Were it not so, the Holy Ghosts could not dwell in us."
In addition, the Lord reveals the substance that makes up a spirit body. "There is no such thing as immaterial matter. All spirit is matter, but it is more fine or pure, and can only be discerned by purer eyes; We cannot see it; but when our bodies are purified we shall see that it is all matter" (D&C 131:7-8).
In the book of Abraham we learn of the eternal nature of the spirit body. "If there be two spirits, and one shall be more intelligent than the other, yet these two spirits, notwithstanding one is more intelligent than the other, have no beginning; they existed before, they shall have no end, they shall exist after, for they are gnolaum, or eternal" (Abr. 3:18).
Abraham also gives us a clearer picture of the creation process of man. "And the Gods formed man from the dust of the ground, and took his spirit (that is, the man's spirit), and put it into him; and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living soul" (Abr. 5:7).
Then to finish this topic, it is appropriate to turn back to the apostle Paul which taught about the outward man perishing, but the spirit body of man being renewed through the gospel of Jesus Christ. "For all things are for your sakes, that the abundant grace might through the thanksgiving of many redound to the glory of God. For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day" (2 Cor. 4:15-16).
In the book of Numbers Moses and Aaron abase themselves before the Lord and address him in this manner, "O God, the God of the spirits of all flesh" (Numbers 16:22). Similarly in another passage of the book of Numbers "Moses spake unto the Lord, saying, Let the Lord, the God of the spirits of all flesh, set a man over the congregation" (Numbers 27:15-16).
The prophet Elijah as recorded in the book of 1 Kings restores the life of a widow's son by imploring to the Lord that the child's spirit would return into the body of the boy. The record states, "And it came to pass after these things, that the son of the woman, the mistress of the house, fell sick; and his sickness was so sore, that there was no breath left in him." Elijah then cries unto the Lord, "O Lord my God, hast thou also brought evil upon the widow with whom I sojourn, by slaying her son? And he stretched himself upon the child three times, and cried unto the Lord, and said, O Lord my God, I pray thee, let this child's soul come into him again. And the Lord heard the voice of Elijah; and the soul of the child came into him again, and he revived. And Elijah took the child, and brought him down out of the chamber into the house, and delivered him unto his mother; and Elijah said, See, thy son liveth" (1 Kings 17:17-23).
In the book of Job Elihu reproves those older than him by declaring, "there is a spirit in man; and the inspiration of the Almighty giveth them understanding" (Job 32:8).
In Ecclesiastes it states, "Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was; and the spirit shall return unto god who gave it" (Ecclesiastes 12:7). We are reminded in the 11th chapter that, "As thou knowest not what is the way of the spirit, nor how the bones do grow in the womb of her that is with child; even so thou knowest not the works of God who maketh all" (Ecclesiastes 11:5).
In the Garden of Gethsemane Christ instructs his apostles to watch and pray. When their bodies give way to slumber, Christ then uses it as a teaching situation that distinguishes the difference between the spirit and the body of flesh teaching, "Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation; the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak" (Matt. 26:41 and Mark 14:38).
When the apostle Paul is being accused in front of Ananias, Ananias commands that Paul be smitten upon the mouth. In doing so a certain number of the assembly stood and said, "We find no evil in this man; but if a spirit or an angel hath spoken to him, let us not fight against God" (Acts 23:9).
Paul in an epistle to the Corinthians teaches, "Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price; therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's" (1 Cor. 6:19-20).
Paul reminds us of the dual parentage of the children of men. That each of us have fathers in this world, but that the God of heaven is the father of our spirits. "Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence; shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live" (Heb. 12:9)?
James also teaches the difference between faith and works is similar to the body and spirit. "For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also" (James 2:26).
The apostle Peter teaches us, "For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit. By which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison" (1 Peter 3:18-19). Peter continues, "For for this cause was the gospel preached also to them that are dead, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit" (1 Peter 4:6).
In the Book of Mormon the prophet Nephi is instructed by the Spirit of the Lord and Nephi testifies of the Holy Ghost's spirit body. The Spirit asks Nephi what it is that he desires and Nephi says, "to know the interpretation thereof - for I spake unto him as a man speaketh; for I beheld that he was in the form of a man; yet nevertheless, I know that it was the Spirit of the Lord; and he spake unto me as a man speaketh with another" (1 Nephi 11:11).
Nephi then teaches concerning the death and hell that some will pass through, that the spirit goes on living as the body is placed in the grave. "And because of the way of deliverance of our God, the Holy One of Israel, this death, of which I have spoken, which is the temporal, shall deliver up its dead; which death is the grave. And this death of which I have spoken, which is the spiritual death, shall deliver up its dead; which spiritual death is hell; wherefore, death and hell must deliver up their dead, and hell must deliver up its captive spirits, and the grave must deliver up its captive bodies, and the bodies and the spirits of men will be restored one to the other; and it is by the power of the resurrection of the holy One of Israel" (1 Nephi 9:11-12).
In the book of Mosiah King Benjamin is approaching death and tells the people, "I say unto you that I have caused that ye should assemble yourselves together that I might rid my garments of your blood, at this period of time when I am about to go down to my grave, that I might go down in peace, and my immortal spirit may join the choir above in singing the praises of a just God" (Mosiah 2:28).
Amulek teaches in the book of Alma concerning the eternal nature of our spirits. "Now, behold, I have spoken unto you concerning the death of the mortal body, and also concerning the resurrection of the mortal body. I say unto you that this mortal body is raised to an immortal body, that is from death, even from the first death unto life, that they can die no more; their spirits uniting with their bodies, never to be divided; thus the whole becoming spiritual and immortal that they can no more see corruption" (Alma 11:45).
Christ shows his spirit body to the brother of Jared. "Behold, this body, which ye now behold, is the body of my spirit; and man have I created after the body of my spirit; and even as I appear unto thee to be in the spirit will I appear unto my people in the flesh" (Ether 3:16).
Moroni's last words to us in the Book of Mormon testify of the resurrection and the reuniting of the spirit and body together. "And now I bid unto all, farewell. I soon go to rest in the paradise of God, until my spirit and body shall again reunite, and I am brought forth triumphant through the air, to meet you before the pleasing bar of the great Jehovah, the Eternal Judge of both quick and dead" (Moroni 10:34).
In a revelation given to the Church through the Prophet Joseph Smith in 1831, the Lord Jesus Christ speaks of the separation of the spirit from the body as a holding back, "For as ye have looked upon the long absence of your spirits from your bodies to be a bondage" (D&C 45:17). Similarly in the vision that the Prophet Joseph F. Smith had in 1918 concerning the realm of spirits prior to the redemption that was to be made by the God of Israel. "For the dead had looked upon the long absence of their spirits from their bodies as a bondage" (D&C 138:50).
Some of the spirits of the children of men after they depart the mortal life are kept back in bondage as a prison. "Behold, these are they who died without law; And also they who are the spirits of men kept in prison, whom the Son visited, and preached the gospel unto them, that they might be judged according to me in the flesh" (D&C 76:72-73).
The Lord also has revealed through the Prophet Joseph Smith in 1832 the relation of the spirit to all created things. "In describing heaven, the paradise of God, the happiness of man, and of beasts, and of creeping things, and of the fowls of the air; that which is spiritual being in the likeness of that which is temporal; and that which is temporal in the likeness of that which is spiritual; the spirit of man in the likeness of his person, as also the spirit of the beast, and every other creature which God has created" (D&C 77:2). In addition to this the Lord has revealed that, "The spirit and the body are the soul of man" (D&C 88:15).
Based upon the law that the spirit of man has adapted to their existence will determine which type of resurrection they will experience. For a spirit that has conformed their life to the celestial law of God will have a celestial resurrection in the day of their quickening. "They who are of a celestial spirit shall receive the same body which was a natural body; even ye shall receive your bodies, and your glory shall be that glory by which your bodies are quickened" (D&C 88:28). In addition, in the day of judgment, "the spirits of men who are to be judged, and are found under condemnation" shall come forth from their graves (D&C 88:100).
In section 93 of the Doctrine and Covenants of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints God reveals the eternal nature of man. "Man was also in the beginning with God. Intelligence, or the light of truth, was not created or made, neither indeed can be. All truth is independent in that sphere in which God has placed it, to act for itself, as all intelligence also; otherwise there is no existence" (D&C 93:29-30). The eternal verity to glean from this is, "For man is spirit. The elements are eternal, and spirit and element, inseparably connected, receive a fulness of joy; and when separated, man cannot receive a fulness of joy" (D&C 93:33-34). It is through the redemptive act of the God of Israel that man can become innocent before God once again. "Every spirit of man was innocent in the beginning; and God having redeemed man from the fall, men became again, in their infant state, innocent before God" (D&C 93:38).
The truth about the Godhead is found in D&C 130:22. This revelation from God contrasts the difference between the physical condition of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost. "The Father has a body of flesh and bones as tangible as man's; the Son also; but the Holy Ghost has not a body of flesh and bones, but is a personage of Spirit. Were it not so, the Holy Ghosts could not dwell in us."
In addition, the Lord reveals the substance that makes up a spirit body. "There is no such thing as immaterial matter. All spirit is matter, but it is more fine or pure, and can only be discerned by purer eyes; We cannot see it; but when our bodies are purified we shall see that it is all matter" (D&C 131:7-8).
In the book of Abraham we learn of the eternal nature of the spirit body. "If there be two spirits, and one shall be more intelligent than the other, yet these two spirits, notwithstanding one is more intelligent than the other, have no beginning; they existed before, they shall have no end, they shall exist after, for they are gnolaum, or eternal" (Abr. 3:18).
Abraham also gives us a clearer picture of the creation process of man. "And the Gods formed man from the dust of the ground, and took his spirit (that is, the man's spirit), and put it into him; and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living soul" (Abr. 5:7).
Then to finish this topic, it is appropriate to turn back to the apostle Paul which taught about the outward man perishing, but the spirit body of man being renewed through the gospel of Jesus Christ. "For all things are for your sakes, that the abundant grace might through the thanksgiving of many redound to the glory of God. For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day" (2 Cor. 4:15-16).