How can the soul prosper as stated in 3 John vs 2?
Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers. 3 John 1:2
3 John 1:2
NKJV - 2 Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers.
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Asked April 04 2023
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Adanko White
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Jack Gutknecht
Good practical question, Adanko! How do we become healthy physically? We eat well (healthy diet). Sleep well. Exercise daily or at least regularly. Good hygiene is also needed. Spiritual health is similar. We get proper spiritual nourishment with the Bible. (1 Th 2:13; 2 Pe 3:18). We rest in the Lord (Mt 11:28-30). We exercise in the Lord (Hebrews 5:14). We keep ourselves clean spiritually (2 Co 7:1). See Warren Wiersbe for more ideas.
Tim Maas
As I read the cited verse, John is saying that the souls of his readers have already prospered spiritually through the eternal salvation that they have previously received as a result of their faith in Christ, and he is praying that the same prosperity may be theirs in both a temporal sense with respect to their material possessions or resources, and in a physical sense from the standpoint of their health.
Justin Hale
The Holy Spirit is revealing through the apostle John that our soul reflects our spiritual state, and our spiritual state gets 'translated' like a language directly into our physical state, like our wisdom with material things, (i.e. 'prosperity'), and the overall health of our physical body, (i.e. to be in 'good health'). John is reminding his beloved readers of this fact and refocusing them back upon the state of their soul as the first priority, because this is how we are supposed to address any issues of material or physical disorders, ill health, poverty, or even minor setbacks. As Christians, we aren't supposed to go out and try to fix the problems externally, since our soul just goes right back to reflecting our same state again anyway and whatever work we did will just be undone again. The lessons we learn here are not about material things and the physical body itself, so even if we become experts of both we haven't moved an inch in GOD's direction other than in outward 'form,' (2 Timothy 3:5). We attain the 'form of godliness' while denying its power. So while we may end up being a perfect analogy for others to use to understand GOD and His wisdom, (because of our demonstrating what superficially works to keep us both prosperous and healthy), we ourselves are quite ill and wretched, just like Jesus describes for us here when addressing the Laodicean church: "Because you say, “I am rich, and have become wealthy, and have need of nothing,” and you do not know that you are wretched and pitiable and poor and blind and naked." (Revelation 3:17). By refocusing us back on the actual condition of our soul, the Holy Spirit is making sure that this never happens to us. We realize that the only truly lasting and worthwhile prosperity and health comes from within and reflects our actual spiritual state, not just our skill in superficially 'imitating' it.
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