BODY, SOUL, AND SPIRIT
Thanks to Jimmy Anderson, Bruce Davis, Sylvia Palmer, and Anthony Parham. They always are asking me questions that cause me to dig into the Scripture to find the answer. This morning, Anthony asked me a great question about the soul and spirit, so I thought I would use his question as the subject for my blog this week, and his question was a great one. How does the Bible distinguish between the Soul and Spirit? This is a question that is not easy to point out in our everyday Christian lives. While it is not so difficult to distinguish the body from the spirit and the soul, it is particularly difficult to distinguish the soul from the spirit. What exactly are their differences?
BODY, SOUL, AND SPIRIT:
There are a few places in the Bible where the body, soul, and spirit are mentioned. For example, look at 1 Thessalonians 5 : 23.
23 Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely; and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
The verse clearly states that we are composed of three parts: body, soul, and spirit. The verse also uses the word “and,” which in the original Greek language means to differ from each other. The verse is clearly stating that each part is different, and each part has a different function. The body, of course, is referring to the physical and our senses of seeing, hearing, tasting, smelling, and touching. The spirit and soul are much more difficult to explain because they seem similar but are actually very different. They have different functions in our lives as Christians.
Hebrews 4 : 12
12 For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
It is obvious in this verse that the two are separate and what is apparent is that the Word of God divides these two parts from each other.
Draw you a big circle on a piece of paper. Then draw you a circle inside of that circle, and then draw you a circle inside of that circle, and label the outer circle, the body, the first inner circle as the soul, and smaller circle, the core or the spirt.
What Is a Soul as Defined by the Bible?
Let's see what the Bible has to say about the soul.
Matthew 10 : 28
28 And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.
No man can kill our soul. Men may kill our bodies; they cannot do anything to affect our souls.
Ezekiel 18 : 4
4 "Behold, all souls are Mine; the soul of the father as well as the soul of the son is Mine; the soul who sins shall die.
Souls belong to the Lord. He created them when he created us. We also notice this verse mentions that any soul that sins will experience death. All of us have earned eternal death, but thankfully, God has offered a way of salvation for our doomed souls.
Matthew 16 : 26
26 For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?
We cannot allow ourselves to get distracted by the things of this earth. Our soul, after all, cannot take its possessions on earth with it into eternity. It is foolish, and impossible to gain the whole world anyway, and by striving to do so, many will lose their soul. Our eternal destiny and not earthly wealth should be the number one priority in a person's life.
What are the roles and functions of the soul?
The soul is basically our mind, our emotions, and our will. It is who we are as human beings, but it is also used to express God.
Luke 1 : 46 – 47:
46 And Mary said: "My soul magnifies the Lord, 47 And my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior.
In these verses, we can see that Mary uses her soul to glorify God and then uses the spirit to rejoice in what God has done to save her. Glorifying God is human behavior and human responsibility. We express our humanity to God through our soul, and we magnify His power and presence through our spirit. Although we express God’s greatness in our soul, we can never express God’s power through our soul because it is our humanity. We can do good works and be godly and still fall short. We can never express God’s love for us solely through our soul. We need the spirit to express God’s love.
What is the spirit according to the Bible?
Go back to Luke 1 : 46 – 47.
Mary rejoices about God’s love shown through His only begotten Son through her spirit. This means that she enjoyed and experienced God through her spirit. While the soul is the source of our expression through our humanity, it has its limitations and the only way we can experience God is through our spirit. The soul is merely a channel. We first magnify God’s power and grace through our soul, and then we express and experience it fully through our spirit. The function of the spirit is spiritual. The spirit is the only way to connect with God, and we can only use the spirit if we trust Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior.
Romans 8: 3 - 4
3 For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh, 4 that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.
These verses demand us to walk according to the Spirit and that means living a life according to the Spirit and not our soul. The way of the spirit is the way of God. The Spirit came to us through Jesus Christ. He lived among us and became human and for this reason, He has given us the gift of connecting with God through our spirit because of the Spirit. The Spirit that enters us when we get saved is the same Spirit that will guide us in living a Christlike life in our spirit.
What is the difference between the soul and spirit?
The soul is our humanity that makes us feel emotions. It is our way to magnify God through our human limitations. The spirit is our spiritual and deeper connection with the Lord. We express our love to God and Jesus Christ through our spirit because the Holy Spirit is the gift that Christ gave us when He came to this earth and died for sins. The Holy Spirit living in us enables us to according to the Spirit. We can only use the spirit if we have accepted Christ as our Savior.
Anthony, thanks for the question. I hope I answered it. The question I have for someone who might have just read this is have you trusted Jesus Christ as your Savior. You might think you love God, but you can never truly express that love for God until you accept Jesus as your Savior. When you do that, you will receive the Holy Spirit in your life, and your eyes will be opened to what God has you.
It is simple. The Bible says that Jesus will save anyone who calls on His name. If you will admit that you are a sinner, repent (turn from) of those sins, call on the name of Jesus as the Son of God who came to this earth by virgin birth, who lived a sinless life on earth, who died for your sins on the Cross of Calvary, and who rose again, you will be saved.
If you have any questions, feel free to submit them as comments on this blog, email me at jclendenin37@yahoo.com, or send me the question by way of Messenger on Facebook. If I cannot answer it, I will find someone who can.