This is a topic which I found quite intriguing when I first discovered the information myself, and it made quite an impact on my thinking and greatly influenced my point of view. I hope you'll enjoy it, and maybe even find it beneficial.
Three Lives?
I Led 3 Lives was a television series in the 1950's loosely based on an American guy who joined the communist party for the FBI and assumed the role of a counterspy- thus the three lives, U.S. citizen, communist and counterspy. Though I was a child I remember the series and watched it a few times, but recall very little about it. It was very much a show for grown-ups, and I was much more interested in watching Hopalong Cassidy-loved his white horse and, of course, his good-guy white hat. Oh, I digressed, but the thought of it made me happy...so back to the trail.
None-the-less, even as a child I found the title and the thought of leading 3 lives very intriguing and mysterious. Considering this I find it no surprise that several years ago while reading Derek Prince's book War in Heaven, I came across a statement which very much appealed to me, and have thought much about it since. In order to arrive at the destination I desire, a little background information is in order, so I'll share some interesting facts from his book that will help clarify my basic premise.
In referring to Genesis 2:7 Mr. Prince shared that the word "life" is plural! This discovery truly captivated me! I wondered how this new understanding might broaden the meaning of the intent of its use in this particular verse, and further, how it might bring greater enlightenment regarding how we were created by God and how He intended for us to function. After all, He didn't change His plan. His original plan is still His plan.
Check out the verse I'm referring to and see for yourself. The following is as it reads in the King James Version and just about all versions I've seen.
And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.
Now look at the difference when you add the word 'life" in its plural form .
And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of lives; and man became a living soul.
It's truly fascinating! Not only does this suggest the character and functionality of God in three persons, but also man whom He created in His Image--all of this in the opening account of creation. What a foundation He laid, but before I can go on, it's also necessary to take a look at another plural word in Genesis 1:1.
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth
The word is "God". In the original language the word used is Elohim, and as Mr. Prince explained, though we in the U.S. add the letter "s" to change the form of a word to plural, in Hebrew it is normal to add "im" to change a word to the plural form. It's pronounced "eem", thus Elohim, the first mention of God referring to Himself in the plural. Another interesting fact is that verbs in Hebrew can either be singular or plural and must match the form of the words to which they are connected. A plural word such as Elohim normally would be matched with a plural form of the verb, but such is not the case in this instance. Mr. Prince writes that the word "created" is singular in form indicating that in God there is both plurality and singularity or unity.
As Christians we've known God to be a Triune Being but to find it to have been so clearly stated in the very first words of the Bible in the creation account was quite an amazing discovery! Very interesting indeed! There is so much more information, knowledge and revelation available to us than we can begin to imagine! In this same book author Prince goes on to share some very interesting information concerning what may have happened in the earth between Genesis 1:1 and Genesis 1:2 to which a number of Bible scholars subscribe, though not pertinent to the subject at hand.
Now that the foundation is laid, I'll get to my point: God created us in His Image and Likeness. We all, to some extent, have gathered that if we've been a Christian for any length of time or have been associated with Christians, but I'd like to expand on it. Since God is 3 in 1 and has both plurality and unity within Himself, and He breathed the breath of lives into man, when He did so, man became a living soul with both plurality and unity within himself just like God. Now isn't that a wonderful fact, especially since God's purpose for man has never changed. As I said before, His original plan is still His plan though it was delayed for a time. While Man enjoyed unbroken fellowship with his Creator, his unity within himself as well as his continuous life source remained unbroken. Though they, man and woman, were made to be fully functional living spirits, they were also fully functional living souls who lived in a fully functional living body without schism fully operating as one whole person.
We know Satan entered in to cause separation and we also know he was successful. His plan was to separate man from God and steal the ruling authority God had given man when He blessed them, but the way he so subtly chose to do this was to present them with something which would first divide them within themselves. He needed to confuse and change the natural order in which they were created by God to operate to accomplish this. This is clearly demonstrated in Genesis 3:6 when after listening to a strange voice and seeing that the forbidden fruit was good for food, pleasant to the eye and desirable to make one wise, the woman being deceived, gave in to temptation, and apart from her spirit and God's influence, she chose to eat. She gave some to the man who was with her and he also chose to eat. By this act of disobedience they put their spirits in subjection to the sensual desires of their souls departing from God and the laws He had established to govern spiritual creatures such as themselves-those created in the God class but little g's instead of capital "G's" (See John 10:34-36, Psalm 82:6, *Psalm 8:5). And the rest is history.
Though the fall of man was great, we as men have had little understanding how greatly we all have been affected by the lower nature we inherited because of it. The segregation of our spirit, soul and body because of our separation from God and His design has been devastating. However, The Very Good and Great News is this truth found in Romans 5:17.
17 For if by one man’s offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ.
The purpose of all I've written is to share a little about the separation of our 3 lives that we have in one which are often at odds with each other. At times we might follow our spirit, sometimes we might follow our emotions, and other times we might just follow our appetites depending on our circumstances or how we might feel at the moment. I know I mentioned several times that God's plan for man is still His original plan, however, the deceiver's plan is still his original plan, to divide and conquer, to separate man from his Creator and to keep man from the reunification of his "three lives". So I'll end this first installment of "3 Lives" with the following scripture which Jesus Himself said so very plainly...then I'll surely want to do a little "Happy Dance" for getting this far on this particular subject!
John 10:10
10 The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.
And to get an even clearer picture of this scripture, you might want to check it out in the Amplified Version at the following link:
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John%2010:10&version=AMP
* The word for "angels" in Psalm 8:5 in the original language is Elohim.