The mind, the will and the emotion are all entwined, in man’s desires, and feelings. Man speaks and behaves according to their thinking. The heart, which is not part of the soul, but of the physical body, is a transporter of life through the pumping of blood through the entire body. Representing the physical part, the Bible says that it is deceitful above all things, and it is exceeding perverse and corrupt and severely, mortally sick! Who can know it? (Jer. 17:9). When YAHSHUA, our Lord, was in the Garden of Gethsemane, He suffered the pain of the soul, as He confined to the disciples saying: My soul is very sad and deeply grieved, so that I am almost dying of sorrow. Stay here and keep awake and keep watch with Me (Matt. 26:38) and Luke reports the same in other words: And He with drew from them about a stone’s throw and knelt down and prayed, saying, Father, if You are willing, remove this cup from Me; yet not My will, but Yours be done. And there appeared to Him an angel from heaven, strengthening in spirit. And being in agony [of mind], He prayed more earnestly and intently, and His sweat became like great clots of blood dropping down upon the ground (Luke 22:41-44).
YAHSHUA’S pain in the soul was for the redemption of our soul, which is contrary to God’s principles. As Adam and Eve demonstrated when they sinned knowingly. Since then, the soul’s stubbornness reflects the sinful condition that comes from within and that includes the heart also. The Apostle Paul wrote about that in Romans 8:6-7: Now the mind of the flesh [which is sense and reason without the Holy Spirit] is death, but the mind of the [Holy] Spirit is life and peace. Because the mind of the flesh] with its carnal thoughts and purposes] is hostile to God, for it does not submit itself to God’s law; indeed, it cannot. The disease of the soul expresses itself in sadness, depression, grief, fear, worries, panic attacks and anxiety. It constitutes agony of the mind. There, in the garden, our Lord YAHSHUA suffered the mental agony to redeem our soul from its sinful nature and enmity against God. So, it is that our soul must be sanctified in order for us to be glorified. It is in the will, emotion and mind of man that it takes place. “Not My will, O God, but Your will be done.” Should be the prayer of every born-again Christian. The renewed mind, will and emotion are the evidences that one has truly been born again. It is the evidence of the result of YAHSHUA’S work of redemption of the soul.
In the letter to the Romans, Paul appeals to the Christian Romans and begged them to make a decisive dedication of their bodies [presenting all their members and faculties] as a living sacrifice, holy and well pleasing to God, which was their reasonable service and spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, so that you may prove what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God, even the thing which is good and acceptable and perfect (Rom. 12:1-2) This is only possible through a renewed mind. Talking to Nicodemus, YAHSHUA emphasized the importance of being born again, that is born of water, and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God; what is born of the flesh is flesh; and what is born of the Spirit is spirit (John 3:5-6). It is only through the acceptance of the gift of salvation offered by our Lord and Savior, YAHSHUA, when He paid the ultimate price of redemption with His own blood and when He took upon Himself the diseases of the mind in the Garden of Gethsemane.
When there is no evidence of transformation of the mind, there is very little to believe that one has been born again. Been born of the Spirit, one will act according to the Holy Spirit’s desires. The old life is no longer in control of the soul, for it is dead to the desires of the flesh and alive to live according to the desires of the Spirit of God. The Apostle Paul confirms saying, I am crucified with Christ, live not I, but Christ lives in me; and the life I now live in the body I live by faith in the Son of God, Who loved me and gave Himself up for me (Gal. 2:20). That means, the soul is now controlled by the Holy Spirit Who lives in me. The flesh has no longer the right to do whatever pleases it. Our priority should be that of pleasing our God, whose sacrificial love saved us. It is in the soul level that Satan temps and infiltrates his evil thoughts. The soul, the active part of the body, must submit to the work of sanctification in order to be saved and have an entrance in heaven. The unsanctified soul has no place in heaven, for it does not submit to God, indeed it cannot.
Light from the Word 