"There is a Spirit in Man"

It was Job who is quoted as having said, “But there is a spirit in man: and the inspiration of the Almighty giveth them understanding” (Job 32:8). Concerning this concept, President Joseph F. Smith taught: “There is not a man born into the world but has a portion of the Spirit of God, and it is that Spirit of God which gives to his spirit understanding. Without this, he would be but an animal like the rest of the brute creation, without understanding, without judgment, without skill, without ability, except to eat and to drink like the brute beast. But inasmuch as the Spirit of God giveth all men understanding, he is enlightened above the brute beast. He is made in the image of God Himself, so that he can reason, reflect, pray, exercise faith; he can use his energies for the accomplishment of the desires of his heart, and inasmuch as he puts forth his efforts in the proper direction, then he is entitled to an increased portion of the Spirit of the Almighty to inspire him to increased intelligence, to increased prosperity and happiness in the world; but in proportion as he prostitutes his energies for evil, the inspiration of the Almighty is withdrawn from him, until he becomes so dark and so benighted, that so far as his knowledge of God is concerned, so far as the future or hopes of eternal life are concerned, he is quite as ignorant as a dumb brute” (Journal of Discourses, 25:53-54 as quoted in Daniel H. Ludlow, A Companion to Your Study of the Old Testament, 267). I sense that some pet lovers will be uncomfortable with this statement, nevertheless, it is true from at least the standpoint of the gospel.

While the spirit of man may be inspired by the Almighty through three identifiably different means, it is one of these namely, the Light of Christ to which President Smith has major reference here. The Light of Christ fills the immensity of space and is that force for good that stands in opposition to the spirit of the evil one. When we speak of the “conscience” of mankind, we speak of the most obvious effect of the Light of Christ upon our persons. If we do not seek to drown out the direction our conscience would give us, then its direction will guide us toward beliefs and actions that are good and consistent with God’s will. A conscience fettered by a repeated rejection of what is good will leave us more exposed to the temptations of the evil one and of his minions. For those who leave themselves open to the inspiration of the Light of Christ are encouraged toward ends of enlightenment, discovery, and creativity not only for themselves but also at times for the betterment and the refinement of the human family.

The Holy Ghost is a testifier of the truth. The unrepentant will at best experience a personal brush with the Holy Ghost as they have witness born to them of the truthfulness of the restored gospel and the re-establishment of the Lord’s one true Church upon the earth in these last days. If the investigator seizes upon this witness of truth and exercises faith and repentance unto baptism and confirmation, then will the convert receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. This gift from God is the right to have the constant companionship of His Spirit to guide us, to encourage us, to warn us of impending danger, and to comfort us in times of trials. What is often not mentioned in such a discussion is that the Holy Ghost will not strive with the disobedient. It follows, therefore, that we will reap the promised benefits the Holy Ghost has to offer only if we are living worthy of those blessings.

The third way that “the inspiration of the Almighty giveth [us] understanding” is by means of the Second Comforter, the Lord Jesus Christ, Himself. The Savior taught: “He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him. . . . If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him” (see John 14: 18-23). To be worthy of and receive the Second Comforter is expressed in the scriptures in several different ways. The Apostle Peter taught that we should seek to make our “calling and election sure” (2 Peter 1:10). To the Prophet Joseph Smith, the Lord said, “The more sure word of prophecy means a man’s knowing that he is sealed up unto eternal life, by revelation and the spirit of prophecy, through the power of the Holy Priesthood” (D&C 131:5). On another occasion, the Lord taught that those “who overcome by faith, and are sealed by the Holy Spirit of promise, which the Father sheds forth upon all those who are just and true. They are they who are the church of the Firstborn” (D&C 76:53-54). Of course, the members of the church of the Firstborn are those who inherit eternal life. While speaking concerning John 14:23, the Prophet Joseph Smith taught that “the appearing of the Father and the Son, in that verse, is a personal appearance; and the idea that the Father and the Son dwell in a man’s heart is an old sectarian notion, and is false” (D&C 130:3). For “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 Ghost could not dwell in us” (D&C 130:22).

There are those writers who diminish the importance of Job’s pronouncement that “there is a spirit in man” as not being an exceptional concept. I beg to differ with them. The spirits that inhabit human beings consist of two identifiably different parts and are the spirit offspring of our heavenly parents. The spirits of which I speak are not those that naturally inhabit the bodies of animals, and spirits destined for the bodies of animals can never be the life force in a human body. Thus the spirit that inhabits the human being is materially different from those inhabiting all other life forms. The spirits of which Job speaks consist of an intelligence that is co-eternal with God and that is the life force within the spirit body created by our heavenly parents. In our pre-mortal experience, we participated in a maturation process that allowed us to progress according to our Father’s desires for us to the extent we were willing to obey His dictates. The mortal probation in which we presently find ourselves is a continuation of this maturation process the object of which is to become as our parents in heaven are. The success of our earthly progression is possible in the final analysis because of “the inspiration of the Almighty” that provides to the obedient the necessary understanding of God’s prescribed course of action during this period of testing.