Spirit, Soul, and Body has been a very transformative concept for me. It may seem very outrageous, some may even doubt the truth behind it, but it’s hard to argue that it definitely has implications on all of our lives. To deeper understand Spirit, Soul, and Body, and what the scripture has to say about it, we are going to break it down a bit.

What is it?

It is an interesting concept for sure, but its simpler than we really think. It is the idea that humans are made up of three different parts, Spirit, Soul, and Body. Most can clearly see the fact that we are made of at least two parts, soul and body, as those can clearly be seen.

We can always see the physical body clearly, wherever we go. We can also see the differences in how people act and think as their distinct personality or in other words, their soul.

What most people have a bit more trouble seeing is the difference between soul and spirit. We often mix the two and sort of combine them, but they are two vastly different things. First, let’s try to define what spirit really means to us.

What really is a spirit?

It can sometimes be hard to talk or think about anything spiritual. It’s often considered a difficult concept to understand, and many would actually consider the “spiritual” people to be a bit out of their wits. As Christians though, it’s a concept that we should try to grasp as its extremely vital to our own maturity and how we relate to God.

Most would agree that God made up of three parts, similar to us, but in God’s case, it’s three different beings. You have God the father, Jesus who is the son, and the Holy Spirit. I once heard a pastor call the Holy Spirit the “crazy uncle” in reference to the father and the son, and that is often how people seem to think of it. The Holy Spirit can be sort of an odd topic for many people, even those in church, as it is hard to define what he really is, similar to our own spirits.

While we can see Jesus, and can imagine God, we can’t really look at the Holy Spirit the same way. We have to look at what the scripture says about it. Let’s look at what 1 Corinthians 6:19 has to say about the Holy Spirit.

“Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have from God? You are not your own”.

This verse tells us one of the most important aspects of our spirit and the Holy Spirit. That is the fact that the Holy Spirit lives inside of us. Our bodies, like a temple, house the Holy Spirit, and the Lord gave his spirit to us.

I love to look deeper into the meaning of words. One of the ways I have learned to do that is to look into the Greek and Hebrew translations and definitions behind the words that we see. The word for “temples” in that scripture is the word “naos”, which simply means temple, but is used to describe a few things. Those are a temple, a shrine, and, according to Strong’s Concordance, the part of the temple where God himself resides.

When put into context that verse then says, “do you not know that your bodies are (the part of the temple where God himself resides)”. In other words, our bodies are the place where God resides. How awesome!

That may seem rather unlikely, but God truly imparted his spirit onto us, therefore we do not need to look far to see the Holy Spirit. We can simply look into ourselves, though we do need scripture to really see what’s inside there.

Who is the Holy Spirit?

1. He’s a helper

While our bodies and mind may not be perfect, our spirit, when our lives are dedicated to Christ, is absolutely 100% perfect through the Holy Spirit. You may be asking, “what does that matter if we can’t even see it?” While it may be true, we can’t physically see the Holy Spirit, but we can hear him.

Think about all the times we have thought about doing something, and then there’s that little voice in the book of our heads saying, “you shouldn’t do that”. Maybe you wanted to go out with some friends and knew it would get a little crazy and heard “you should stay home”. I know that I’ve heard that voice many times and I’m sure we have all had similar situations.

That voice is the Holy Spirit. He often sends us convictions, which in this situation can be defined as “a firmly held belief or opinion”. So basically, a belief that what we are doing is inherently wrong.

In my own life, through these convictions, I have grown tremendously, because I have come to see what the Lord wants and doesn’t want for my life. In this way, we are able to grow closer to the image of God, from listening to the convictions of the Holy Spirit. This means that even just by listening to what the Holy Spirit says, we can grow tremendously.

2. He’s a guide

In the same action, by giving us convictions, he also guides our steps. However, the Holy Spirit guides us in another way.

Psalms 37:4 says, “delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart”. While it can be very easy to interpret that verse as the Lord just giving us what we want, I see it differently. I believe, along with many others, that that verse means that the Lord will replace our desires with his desires.

I experienced this in a great way. Now, I have a deep desire now to see others grow, and to see people get to know Jesus more. I now have a deep desire to teach and lead others, but I definitely didn’t always have these desires. I used to want whatever everybody else did. Fame, money, all the worldly desires. As I began to pursue the Lord and what he wanted for me, the Holy Spirit slowly shifted my desires to fit the call that the Lord has on my life.

While this happened in a dramatic way for me, I’ve heard of it happening in others’ lives as well. I’ve heard stories from friends and family of the earthly pleasures, drinking, partying, things of thar sort, being taken away as they began to grow in their relationship with the Lord and they were all so happy for it. We all should let the Holy Spirit be a guide in our walk and in our desires.

Who are we in the Holy Spirit?

2 Corinthians 5:17 says that “if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation”. That verse seems to stump many people. When you give your life to Jesus, you won’t look in the mirror and look completely different. You won’t be a saint and never get angry or jealous or anything like that automatically. So, what is so new about us? That is the spirit.

When we accept Jesus, we are filled with the Holy Spirit as i mentioned earlier, that means that we don’t have our old, sinful spirit anymore, we have a perfect spirit. As assumed, that completely changes who we are in Christ as the second half of 2 Corinthians 5:17 says, “old things have passed away, all things have become new.”

It may not be super clear and straightforward, but really do have the same spirit as Jesus, and so what is said about the Jesus, we can say about our spirit. What a great gift that the Lord has bestowed upon us! The greatest gift we could ask for is salvation. Through Christ, we have salvation in the Holy Spirit.

There are far too many characteristics we can say for our spirit when it is made new, but here are a few.

1. As stated above, we are made new (2 Corinthians 5:17).
2. We are heirs with Christ (Galatians 4:7).
3. We are the righteousness of God (2 Corinthians 5:21).
4. We are more than conquerors (Romans 8:37).
5. We have all the fruits of the spirit (Galatians 5:22-23).

As I said, these are just a few of the many great things we can say about our new spirit. I encourage you to read through scripture and find some more! I believe that would be very helpful in everyone’s Christian walk.

Practical Applications

I find too often that I hear teachings that sound great, and reveal a great truth, though I have nothing to help lead me in that truth. We are often given no practical ways to help us live out the truth.

Spirit, Soul, and Body, however, is a concept we can practically use every day to help us. Here are a few ways that we can grow from just learning about our spirit:

1. Get to know the Holy Spirit better, as this will often be a huge guide in knowing who you are in Jesus.
2. Begin to walk in the spirit. Living out of who you are in Jesus is a great way to become more like Jesus and start to notice a difference in yourself.
3. Remember who you are in Jesus. It is important to start walking in the spirit, but if you don’t continually remember who you are in Jesus, you’ll likely begin to fall back in the identity of your old spirit.

Final Thoughts

Although our spirit is just one part of our three part being, it is honestly the most vital to really understand. That is because our spirit is the determining factor in who we truly are as people. Before Jesus parted his spirit onto us, we were all sinners and there was nothing stopping us from the pain of sin. Now, we have the opportunity to not only experience eternal life through Jesus and the Holy Spirit, but also to experience breakthrough in this world.

The spirit, soul, and body all work together to form a human. This means that they are intertwine and associate with each other. While we may not always see it, I think we can all believe that it is true. You can notice the difference in how your body feels on days you are feeling a little down in the dumps. Vice versa, you can also see the difference in how your mind feels, how tired and mentally drained you may be after a long workout. Or maybe when you haven’t worked out enough or haven’t eaten the best foods.

You can ultimately see the effects that your soul and body have on each other, but it’s sometimes difficult to see the effects that both have on your spirit and vice versa. In the next couple of posts, I hope to expound on this and further explain how the spirit, soul, and body intertwines even more.