The Spiritual vs The Physical

When you think of the words ‘spirit’, ‘spirit beings’ or ‘angels’, what is the picture that pops up in your mind? Do you picture something that is vaporous or gaseous in nature? For many people, anything that is spiritual is kind of nebulous, ethereal and immaterial. For them, it is anything but real, tangible or physical. Still worse, some people think that these things exist only in people’s imagination. But the Bible says that the spiritual is much more real than the physical. Now that must be shocking to many people. This means that the spiritual realm, which most people think of as a vaporous nebulae, is in fact much more solid and tangible than a piece of rock. It may not be tangible to our senses, but the fact that it exists is nevertheless true.

This might seem irrelevant to our day-to-day needs and problems, but it has an enormous impact upon the quality of life that we live, much beyond what we can discern or comprehend.


Now think about this. None of our five senses can detect radio waves, but that is what makes our radios sing. Our senses cannot detect microwaves either, but it sure cooks our dinner pretty good.

The problem with many people is that they never look beyond their senses. For them, anything beyond their senses simply doesn’t exist. If they had lived a couple of hundred years back, they wouldn’t have believed in radio waves and microwaves either. Now that these facts are established through experience, they have no other choice but to accept them.

Now why is it so important that we understand about the spiritual realm, which is something that we can hardly discern with out sense knowledge? What does it matter whether or not the spiritual is more tangible than the physical world? Why bother with such seemingly absurd, hypothetical notions that hardly have any relevance to our lives?

Well for starters, your understanding about the spiritual is incredibly relevant to your everyday life. What you know about the spiritual has a very direct impact upon your existence. In fact, the quality of your life on earth and beyond hinges upon your understanding about the spiritual realm. Now these are very strong statements and need to be substantiated with solid facts.

Now consider the Word of God. That is a spiritual entity. Although we have The Word in written form (which is The Bible), in reality The Word of God is a spiritual entity. Jesus said, “The words I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life”. So The Word of God is indeed spiritual. And in Luke 21:33 Jesus says, “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away”. In this verse, you have a classic comparison of the spiritual vs. the physical. His Words are spiritual, whereas the earth is physical. He is saying the spiritual is going to stay and the physical is going to vaporize. Now that really tells us which one of the two is more real. 2 Corinthians 4:18 says, “what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal”. That is another conformation of the same fact.

John chapter 1 verses 1 and 3 say, “In the beginning was The Word” and “Through Him (The Word) all things were made; without Him (The Word) nothing was made that has been made.” The Word made everything. Everything there is in this universe and beyond was made by The Word. In other words, the spiritual created the physical. The spiritual literally gave birth to the physical. That should again tell you which is more real and more tangible.

James 4:14 says, “You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes”. Now it looks like the physical world is the vaporous stuff, while the spiritual realm is rock solid. And indeed that is how it is in reality, according to the Bible. The physical, tangible, material world that we see around us is much less real when compared to the spiritual realm. The fact that it is not discernible through our five senses makes it no less real. The Bible says this physical world, which is a vapor, is literally going to vaporize very soon, but the spiritual realm, which is as rock solid as ever, is going to stay for all eternity.

Now what has that got to do with our lives here on earth? Much in every way! Take for instance, the grim prospect of people discovering that they have a life threatening disease like cancer. If they are not believers, their survival pretty much depends on the progress of medical science. On the other hand, if they are believers, their survival directly depends on their basic understanding about the spiritual.

Now cancer is a physical entity, just as the body is. Physical invading the physical. Medicine is again a physical entity. Medicine teams up with the body and fights against the cancer. Whichever team is stronger eventually wins the battle. If the disease is in the starting stages and the medicine is able to overcome and arrest it, the person survives. If the disease is well advanced and the medicine is unable to subdue it, then cancer wins.

Now all this is happening in the physical realm. If the physical realm is the only dimension that the person can relate to, then the outcome pretty much depends on the strength the teams. As we saw earlier, the stronger team wins. If the cancer is stronger, there is simply no hope for the person. It is time to say goodbye. And sadly that is what happens to millions of people around the world. The medicine has failed them. They have lost the battle. There is no more hope. It is time to go.

But when you know about the spiritual realm and begin to tap into its resources, you have the power of dynamite flowing into your circumstances now. Remember, the spiritual is incredibly more powerful and real than the physical. The Word of God (the spiritual) is infinitely more powerful than the cancer (the physical). Isaiah 53:5 says, “He (Jesus) was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed”. We are healed. We ARE HEALED! Now cancer has to contend with that. It is up against God’s Word. Now it is the cancer vs. The Word of God. Who do you think will win? That is a no-brainer.

Remember, the physical is no match for the spiritual. And your understanding and comprehension of this fact plays a mighty role in the quality of your life on earth. God has blessed us through hundreds of promises and Jesus has paid the price for those promises through His Death on the Cross. 2 Corinthians 1:20 (New Living Translation) says, “For all of God’s promises have been fulfilled in Christ with a resounding “Yes!” And through Christ, our “Amen” (which means “Yes”) ascends to God for his glory”.

There are literally hundreds of promises in the Bible that are relevant to virtually every area of our lives. Every problem that we could ever face in this life has a wonderful promise in The Word of God to counter it. When we are aware of the infinite power of the spiritual over the physical, we can boldly confront the problem, which is physical, with the promise of God, which is spiritual. And every time we can see the spiritual overcoming the physical.

The Christian’s victory in life very much depends on this knowledge. Be it victory over sin, overcoming problems or fighting life’s everyday battles, the knowledge about the power of the spiritual over the physical plays a vital role in the outcome of the battle.
More on this >>