ABSTRACT
Taking my cue from Paul I have entitled the paper: Outward Decay and Inward Renewal: A Biblical Perspective on Aging and the Image of God. This leads to the question, "What does spirituality contribute in the context of aging?" My approach is to use Paul as a way into this theme. Paul draws on a Jewish anthropology but has modified it in significant ways in the light of his faith in the Christ and his own maturing experience. Briefly, Paul accepts the earthiness of human life, created from the dust of the earth. But with the breath of God, the human is a living person. The word translated as "soul" (\jIVxit) means, in this context, a living person. Notice Genesis 2:7 says, "man became a living being (soul)."3 From the Jewish perspective, human life is bound up with the survival or resurrection of the body.4 The evidence of 1 Thessalonians 4: 13-5: 11 suggests that Paul expected to be alive when Jesus returned. He speaks of "we who are alive and remain" at the time of Jesus' coming. But he has already begun to think of the fate of belie vers who have died. They will be caught up first to meet the Lord in the air. Only then will "we who are alive and remain" join them. Thus, at this time, Paul thinks of himself as one who would still be alive.
