Godbey's Commentary - Acts - Romans - Enter His Rest

the sinner as “dead” (Ephesians 2:1). The word for regenerate is zoo-opoieoo, which is a compound
word and means to create life. Hence the conversion of a sinner is a de facto creation as real as the
creation of a world. As there is but one Creator, therefore God alone can regenerate a soul. Popular
religions in all ages have practically eliminated the supernatural, which alone has salvation. The true
religion is not morality, philanthropy nor churchanity. It is all spirituality wrought by the personal
Holy Ghost in the heart. Consequently, Holy Ghost religion is the only one in all the world
characterized by true spiritual life. Between the living and the dead religions of the world there has
always been an irrepressible conflict, — an exterminating war, — and always will be. Whenever a
church dies spiritually, she is ready to fight Holy Ghost religion, from the simple fact that she is
possessed of the devil, who is the uncompromising enemy of God. The “soul,” as used in the Bible,
means the mind; the “heart” means the affections, and is really included in “spirit,” which is a much
more comprehensive term, signifying the immortal being, the highest element of humanity
homogeneous to God Himself. While the animals all have souls, i.e., minds, they are not immortal.
The reason the human soul is immortal in contradistinction to the animals, is because the immortality
is conferred by the human spirit. When God created man, he consisted of soul or mind and body,
homogeneous to the animal creation. Subsequently “God breathed into his nostrils the breath of life,”
thus imparting to him His immortal Spirit, as the Hebrew word ruach not only means spirit, but
breath, the symbol of the spirit. Of course man had animal life before this divine inbreathing
imparted to him a living spirit, conferring life and immortality on his soul. The human spirit is
constituted of three faculties, i.e., the conscience, which survived the Fall, and is the voice of God
in the soul; the will, which is the king of the man and in the hands of Satan while a sinner, but in
conversion wrested from the devil and turned over to God forever to rule; and the affections, which
are the predilections, inclinations and incentives constituting the “heart.” These are only conquered
in regeneration and retained, subordinated to the regenerated will, by grace, it being reserved for the
wonderful efficacy of the cleansing blood in entire sanctification to radically expurgate them of all
native evil and the refining fire of the Holy Ghost, in the “one baptism” (Ephesians 4:5), to consume
all the surviving debris of the Fall. The unpardonable sin and the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost
(Matthew 12:31) supervene when the devil succeeds in blowing off this third story of the human
superstructure by the tornadoes sent up from the bottomless pit. In these latter days of
superabounding infidelity and abnormal wickedness, millions on all sides are actually permitting the
devil to destroy this third story of their being by grieving away the Holy Spirit, thus crossing the dead
line and sealing their doom in hell, while yet reveling amid the sunshine of temporal prosperity and
sensual delectation. In this way the world is fast ripening for the awful tribulation. The mind consists
of the intellect, the memory, the sensibilities, and the judgment. In case of salvation, the mind with
its wonderful resources is attracted up to the spirit, identified with it and subordinated to it, with its
mighty resources of both mind and spirit, all consecrated to God for time and eternity. In case of the
wicked, in the awful ultimatum of the sad forfeiture of their spiritual susceptibilities, and the
transcendent achievements and glories of gracious possibilities, this third story of humanity, which
God built for His own occupancy, being blown off by the devil, the vast resources of mentality are
dragged down and subordinated to the body, which in ipso is a mere animal. In that case man
becomes a demonized brute, unfortunately immortal and capable only of misery to himself and
others, all focalized in demonized self, in which is concentrated not only the ruin of the Fall, but the
very virus of Satan and the torments of hell.