Atheists asks in sincerity: “So why call it spirit? Why not just call it body? Can you show me spirit that is not inside a body?” (Atheist v. Christian debate forum)
Christian response…
We cannot perceive the spirit with our senses that are constrained by Time. I can show the resultant of the spirit’s absence…simply visit a mortuary or a grave yard.
“For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead.” James 2:26 (NASB)
The spirit of man plays a limited role relevant to the Realm of Time; the origin, foundational function and purpose of the spirit is interaction within the boundlessness of the Spiritual World. What many don’t understand, especially those pursuing a naturalistic ideology, is the truism that even the origin of matter was created from that which is NOT visible to our human eye.
Our Creator, Who is Spirit, took that which is spiritual, not perceivable by our senses constrained by Time, and from the Spiritual World, He created all that we see by making same visible and interactive with our senses via His authority over Time and Eternity.
All that we perceive in this Universe is a by-product of that which exists in the Spiritual World. This is why mankind, cognitively constrained by Time via our senses, will never define origin of matter or origin of life, both of which have emanated from the Spiritual World. Note the interesting way the Holy Spirit articulates that truism here and consider the inverse:
“By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things which are visible.” Hebrews 11:3 (NASB)
Therefore, what we perceive with our senses in Time finds its origin in the Spiritual World and was created by that which is in the Spiritual World and made visible and interactive with our senses constrained by Time.
Most theologians insist our Creation emanates ex nihilo (out of nothing) but I sincerely disagree; I believe the Holy Spirit has told us that our Creation is simply the Spiritual made visible by the same God who is Spirit that became flesh and dwelt among us in Time for 33.5-yrs. – Jesus Christ-Yeshua.