Jesus: Body... Soul... Spirit...

Body, Soul, Spirit…

Adult Bible Study

Edited by: Prince Jeyabal

Houston Tamil Church

Date: 10/23/2022

Body, Soul, and Spirit in the Bible

There are a few places in the Bible where the body, soul, and spirit are mentioned. One of these is in 1 Thessalonians 5:23, as written, “Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

If we delve into this verse, it clearly states that we are composed of three parts: The body, the soul, and the spirit. The verse also uses the word “and,” which in the original Greek language means to differ from each other. Thus, this clearly states that each part is different and plays a different role in us.

What does the Bible say about your body?

1 Corinthians 12: 12 The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body. So, it is with Christ.

It is easy to distinguish the body as physical, which means using the five senses; the sense of sight, the sense of hearing, the sense of taste, the sense of smell, and the sense of touch.

1 Corinthians 6:19-20: Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? For you were bought at a price; therefore, glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s. So, glorify God in your body. Let us imagine a circle on three levels. The outer level is the body, followed by the soul and the core is the spirit. Now, let us discuss the function of the soul to understand its importance of it and then discuss the spirit in detail.

What Is a Soul as Defined by the Bible?

Let's see what the Bible has to say about the soul as we analyze the verses of Scripture.

Matthew 10:28: "And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell."

No man can kill our soul. Although they can kill our bodies, they cannot do anything personally to affect our souls.

Ezekiel 18:4: "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. Considering every human, except Jesus, had sinned, this means everyone has earned eternal death. Thankfully, God has offered a way of salvation for those whose souls are doomed to die.

Matthew 16:26: "For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return 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 to the afterlife. It would be folly to strive to gain the whole world on account of losing one's soul. One soul's destination is of utmost importance and should be the number one priority in a person's life.

Soul: Role and Functions

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. As written in Luke 1:46-47, Mary’s Song, “And Mary said: My soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior.”

In this verse, 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 soul.

Although we express God’s magnanimity 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 through our soul alone. We then need the spirit to express God’s love.

What Is a Spirit According to the Bible?

Let us 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. The expression of God’s love is through our 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.

Let us go back to our imagery of the parts. The body is the outer level, followed by the soul and the spirit is the core. The expression of love to God paved the way through the soul. We first magnify God’s power and grace, 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 believe in God and receive Him through our Lord Jesus Christ’s salvation.

In Romans 8:4, we are reminded by this as stated, “In order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.”

This verse demands us to walk with our 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 amongst us and became human and for this reason, he has given us the gift of connecting with God through our spirit.

What Is the Difference between Soul and Spirit?

It is a blessing that we have three parts, the body, the soul, and the spirit. All of these parts have specific functions. The body is our physical functions and here we feel our physical senses such as the sense of sight, taste, smell, hear, and touch. The soul on the other hand is our humanity that makes us feel emotions. It is our way to magnify God through our human limitations.

What Is the Difference between Body and Spirit?

Galatians 5:16-17: I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish.

Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.

When harmonization failed between Body, Soul, and Spirit….

1. What happened to Adam & Eve

2. What happened to Samson

3. What happened to David

4. What happened to Judas

The story of the prophet Elijah, Jezebel and King Ahab: 1 Kings 18-19

Spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak

Matthew 26:41: Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.

Submission of aligned Body, Soul and Spirit to God?

Daniel 3:26-27: Then Nebuchadnezzar went near the mouth of the burning fiery furnace and spoke, saying, “Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego,
servants of the Most High God, come out, and come here.” Then Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego came from the midst of the fire. And the satraps, administrators, governors, and the king’s counselors gathered together, and they saw these men on whose bodies the fire had no power; the hair of their head was not singed nor were their garments affected, and the smell of fire was not on them.

Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego surrendered themselves completely to God: body, soul, and spirit. It was the kind of submission Paul wrote of in Romans 12:1: present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.

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