Biblical Accounts Of Spiritual Realm
Biblical accounts describe a spiritual realm that interacts with the physical world and influences human experience. This realm is often understood as encompassing spiritual beings, divine activity, and non-physical realities that are nonetheless real and impactful [3, 6].
The creation narrative in Genesis distinguishes between heavenly and earthly realms, with God creating elements from both [5]. This foundational understanding suggests a dual nature to existence. Augustine, for instance, speaks of both a "corporeal" and "spiritual" creation, encompassing the entire mass of the world [7].
Spiritual realities are frequently depicted as influencing human perception and understanding. John, in the book of Revelation, describes being "in the Spirit" to experience spiritual realities and gain insights into God's presence, the heavenly realm, and divine intentions [3]. Dreams, while sometimes vehicles of divine revelation in the Old Testament, are generally considered by Paul to be of a lower order than prophetic visions, where human understanding is more active [1].
The Bible also describes various spiritual beings. Angels are understood as spiritual essences through whom God distributes favors and performs works [11]. While some, like the Sadducees, denied the existence of angels, Scripture provides numerous accounts that contradict this view [11]. Demons are also recognized as spiritual essences, with philosophers and even common people acknowledging their existence [9]. The name Amraphel, for example, means "one that speaks of secrets," hinting at hidden or spiritual knowledge [2].
The concept of "spiritual" extends to human experience and condition. Charles Hodge emphasizes that "spiritual death" is as real as physical death, indicating a profound state of insensitivity and powerlessness in the soul concerning spiritual matters [6]. Conversely, the indwelling of the Spirit of God in believers signifies a mystical union with Christ, where believers are "one with Him and one with one another" [8]. This spiritual life is sustained by faith in God, His attributes, and His revealed truths, with Christ as the central object of this faith [10].
The distinction between the spiritual reality and its outward manifestation is also significant in theological discussions. John Calvin differentiates between the "spiritual reality which is signified" and "the external sacrament itself," noting that the spiritual reality (e.g., regeneration) may precede or follow the outward sign [4]. Similarly, Augustine observed that the Jewish people, while in bondage to temporal things, were nonetheless presented with the One God, even if they sometimes focused on the signs of spiritual realities rather than the realities themselves [12]. The "spiritual" meaning of Scripture is also considered a deeper, profounder understanding beyond the literal meaning [13].
Sources
- Smith's Bible Dictionary “Smith's Bible Dictionary: Dreams — The Scripture declares that the influence of the Spirit of God upon the soul extends to its sleeping as well as its waking thoughts. But, in accordance with the principle enunciated by St. Paul in (1 Corinthians 14:15) dreams, in which the understanding is asleep, are placed below the visions of prophecy, in which the understanding plays its part. Under the Christian dispensation, while we read frequently of trances and vision, dreams are never referred to as vehicles of divine revelation. In exact accordance with this principle are the actual records of the ”
- Hitchcock's Bible Names “Hitchcock's Bible Names: Amraphel — one that speaks of secrets”
- Revelation (Protestant academic) “Tyndale House on Revelation 4:2: 4:2 By being in the Spirit, John could experience spiritual realities (see 1:10; 17:3; 21:10; Ezek 11:1) and grasp insights about God’s presence, the heavenly realm, and God’s intentions in history.”
- CCEL (Reformed) “John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, section 98: be carefully distinguished: 1. the spiritual reality which is signified (what Calvin calls “the thing”) 2. the external sacrament itself (what Calvin calls “the sign”) 3. our understanding of the spiritual significance of the sacrament (as mediated to us by the Word and Spirit). Calvin has called our attention to the very important fact that a particular time order of these aspects is not crucial to the proper use of the sacraments. He asserts that the spiritual reality itself (e.g., regeneration) may either precede or follow the e”
- Midrash Rabbah (Jewish (Rabbinic)) “Midrash Rabbah, Bereishit Rabbah 12:8: Everything that you see is an outgrowth of either the heavens or the earth, as it is stated: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” (Genesis 1:1). On the second day, He created things out of the heavenly realm: “God said: Let there be a firmament” (Genesis 1:6). On the third day, He created things out of the earthly realm: “God said: Let the earth sprout grass” (Genesis 1:11). On the fourth day, He created things out of the heavenly realm: “God said: Let there be lights” (Genesis 1:14). On the fifth day, He created things out of the eart”
- CCEL (Reformed (Old Princeton)) “Charles Hodge, Systematic Theology, Vol. 2, section 140: and spiritual, and such being the consequent law of thought and language which is universal among men, and which is recognized in Scripture, we are not at liberty to explain the language of the Bible when speaking of the sinful state of men, or of the method of recovery from that state, as purely metaphorical, and make it mean much or little according to our good pleasure. Spiritual death is as real as corporeal death. The dead body is not more insensible and powerless in relation to the objects of sense, than the soul, when spiritually ”
- Schaff ANF/NPNF (Patristic) “NPNF1 Vol 1: Augustine — Confessions, Letters — CHAP. XXXII. -- OF THE PARTICULAR WORKS OF GOD, MORE ESPECIALLY OF MAN.: 47- Thanks to Thee, O Lord. We behold the heaven and the earth, whether the corporeal 206 part, superior and inferior, or the spiritual and corporeal creature; and in the embellishment of these parts, whereof the universal mass of the world or the universal creation consisteth, we see light made, and divided from the darkness. We see the firmament of heaven,' whether the primary body of the world between the spiritual upper waters and the corporeal lower waters, or -- becaus”
- CCEL (Reformed (Old Princeton)) “Charles Hodge, Systematic Theology, Vol. 2, section 140: passages in which the Spirit of God is said to dwell in his people, are so many proofs of the mystical union between Christ and all true believers. They are One. One with Him and one with one another. For by one Spirit they are all baptized into one body. ( 1 Cor. xii. 13 .) These representations of Scripture concerning the union between Christ and his people, are neither to be explained nor explained away. Both attempts have often been made. Numerous theories have been adopted and urged as divine truth, which in fact are only philosophi”
- Schaff ANF/NPNF (Patristic) “ANF Vol 3: Tertullian — CHAP. XXII. (part 1): And we affirm indeed the existence of certain spiritual essences; nor is their name unfamiliar. The philosophers acknowledge there are demons; Socrates himself waiting on a demon's will. Why not? since it is said an evil spirit attached itself specially to him even from his childhood--turning his mind no doubt from what was good. The poets are all acquainted with demons too; even the ignorant common people make frequent use of them in cursing. In fact, they call upon Satan, the demon-chief, in their execrations, as though from some instinctive soul”
- CCEL (Reformed (Old Princeton)) “Charles Hodge, Systematic Theology, Vol. 3, section 16: and suppose the constant exercise of faith. We live by exercising faith in God, in his attributes, in his providence, in his promises, and in all the truths which He has revealed. Especially is this life sustained by those exercises of faith of which Christ is the object; his divine 109 and mysteriously constituted person, as God manifest in the flesh his finished work for our redemption; his constant intercession; his intimate relation to us not only as our prophet, priest, and king, but as our living head in whom our life is hid in God,”
- CCEL (Reformed) “John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, section 30: his people, and by whose means he distributes his favours among men, and also executes other works. The Sadducees of old maintained, that by angels nothing more was meant 148 than the movements which God impresses on men, or manifestations which he gives of his own power ( Acts 23:8 ). But this dream is contradicted by so many passages of Scriptures that it seems strange how such gross ignorance could have had any countenance among the Jews. To say nothing of the passages I have already quoted, passages which refer to thousands and”
- Schaff ANF/NPNF (Patristic) “NPNF1 Vol 2: Augustine — City of God, Christian Doctrine — CHAP. 6.--UTILITY OF THE BONDAGE OF THE JEWS.: 10. This bondage, however, in the case of the Jewish people, differed widely from what it was in the case of the other nations; because, though the former were in bondage to temporal things, it was in such a way that in all these the One God was put before their minds. And although they paid attention to the signs of spiritual realities in place of the realities themselves, not knowing to what the signs referred, still they had this conviction rooted in their minds, that in subjecting them”
- Schaff ANF/NPNF (Patristic) “ANF Vol 4: Tertullian IV, Minucius Felix, Commodian, Origen — FROM THE GREEK. (part 5): of holy Scripture, because "the kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hid in a field; which when a man findeth, he hideth it, and for joy thereof goeth away and selleth all that he hath, and buyeth that field."[1] By which similitude, consider whether it be not pointed out that the very soil and surface, so to speak, of Scripture--that is, the literal meaning--is the field, filled with plants and flowers of all kinds; while that deeper and profounder "spiritual" meaning are the very hidden treasures of wisdo”